Back at the Mack (Recap of NJIT v. Hofstra)

When I was planning my itinerary for my family Christmas vacation trip up to Long Island, I knew that the last activity before heading back to Columbia, South Carolina on New Year's Eve morning was going to be a Hofstra home basketball game on Monday, December 30.   It was only fitting that I would be ending my time in New York at the Mack Center.

When I first started my blog in December 2005, the first game I covered for my blog was Hofstra hosting Delaware in its first CAA home game of the season.   The Pride were up by twenty three points in the second half before coasting to a fourteen point win.  That was the famous 2005-06 Hofstra team that featured Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio, Carlos Rivera, Aurimas Kieza and Adrian Uter, arguably the best starting five in the history of the Pride/Flying Dutchmen basketball program.  That team was snubbed out of NCAA Tournament berth and instead made the NIT, losing in the quarterfinals to ODU.

Eight years later, here I was, sitting in my old seat, Section 111, Row D, Seat 10, looking at a very empty arena forty five minutes before game time vs. NJIT.  The 3-8 Hofstra team that I would be watching this past Monday night was a far cry from that terrific 26-7 Pride team I saw eight years ago or even the last good Hofstra team from the 2010-11 season with Charles Jenkins.  But some things thankfully never change at the Mack.

As I entered the Mack Center, I saw my old friends Maureen and Maria at the ticket office.   Maureen works there during home games, but she is a teacher at Hofstra's Salzman Day Care Center and she had both my sons while they were there.  Maria is the person I have gladly dealt with for years for season tickets.  Both are terrific people and it was good to see them.

After I got my ticket and my usual Hofstra dinner of a drink, a hotdog and a pretzel with cheese, I made my way into the arena.  Immediately, I saw my good friend, Bob Sugar, who I've known for close to twenty five years.  We've played softball together, won two fantasy baseball championships together and were at each other's weddings.   Bob and I talked for about fifteen minutes catching up about our families.   

Then my long time Hofstra colleague and friend Kenny Tyler came up to say hello while I was talking to Bob.  I worked with Kenny for many years at Hofstra on various physical plant needs while I was at the Law School.   The three of us ended up talking about Hofstra basketball and the good direction it's heading under new coach Joe Mihalich (along with what seems is the lack of calls Mihalich gets at the end of Hofstra home games).   

A few minutes later, I made my way to my seat, which is very close to press row.  First I said hi to Patricia Houston, who I used to work with at Hofstra's Axinn Library and works as an usher at home basketball games.   Press row is also where my good friend Jaden Daly,  who I call "The OmniPresence of New York City Metro College Basketball" was covering the game for his blog, A Daly Dose of Hoops.   I had just seen him a couple of days before on Saturday for both the Seton Hall-St John's Women's Basketball game and the Boston College-VCU game at the Barclays Center.

A few minutes before the game started, my longtime friend and season ticket holder, Bob, who sits directly across from me in Section 112, walked up the stairs to head to his seat.   When he saw me, he said he thought he saw a ghost, since I haven't been at Hofstra in a year since December 2012.  Bob and I caught up about the Hofstra team and University of South Carolina basketball.

A few more people filled the seats at the Mack Center, as the announced attendance of 856 seemed about right.  The Pride were hosting, NJIT,  the sole independent school in Division I College Basketball.   So Jaden, "There can be only one" independent ( you need to know the movie "Highlander").  The Highlanders, coached by Jim Engles, are without a home after the breakup of the Great West, which was a five team, non NCAA bid conference last season.   The other four schools in the 2012-13 season, the last season of the Great West all found homes; Chicago State, Utah Valley and Texas Pan American joined the WAC, while Houston Baptist joined the Southland.

Engles has done a nice job at NJIT.  Entering his sixth season now, Engles coached the Highlanders to their first winning record in Division I last season at 16-12. Engles is the true Tri State Area local basketball coach having assisted at Wagner, Rider and Columbia before taking the head coaching job at NJIT.  His team entered the game with six wins on the season, including wins over Army, New Hampshire, Maine (twice) and Lafayette. 

The Pride jumped out quickly, as they scored the first nine points of the game. Dion Nesmith, who missed three weeks due to meniscus surgery, nailed a three to start the Hofstra run.  Nesmith then assisted on a Jordan Allen basket to make the score 5-0.  Stephen Nwaukoni would end the run with two free throws to put Hofstra up 9-0.

It was during this time that Tieff showed up finally, as his LIRR train was delayed (what a shock).  Them my good friend and "rival blogger", Jerry Beach, aka Defiantly Dutch tweeted as to where I was in the building.   Jaden had to remind him that I was sitting in my old season ticket seat.  Tieff and I would sit with Jerry, his lovely wife Michelle and his absolutely cute daughter Molly in the second half.

NJIT would cut the lead as Ky Howard and Damon Lynn would assist each other on their respective baskets.  Lynn's three, which would be one of many for him on the night, cut the score to 9-5.   Hofstra would respond with a 7-1 spurt to go up 16-6. Then Nigel Sydnor, whose name would result in several Spinal Tap reference tweets, including one where we all hoped that Spinal Tap would recruit Karl Hess to be their drummer, hit a basket and a free throw to cut the Hofstra lead to seven, 16-9.

The Pride would respond with an 11-2 spurt as Zeke Upshaw, an absolute hidden gem of a graduate student find by Mihalich, scored four of the points in that run.  Jordan Allen, who by necessity (Nesmith's injury) has become a point guard, assisted on a Jamall Robinson three, then added a basket to put Hofstra up 27-11 with six and a half minutes left.  

But as has been the case with the Pride for the entire season, they can look good for several minutes, then look stagnant and error prone on offense.  In the span of three minutes, Hofstra committed four turnovers.  NJIT took advantage and went on a 9-1 run during that span.  A Winfred Willis layup cut the lead to eight, 28-20 with 2:46 left in the half.

The Pride outscored the Highlanders 9-5 the rest of the half to take a 37-25 lead into halftime.  Nesmith had a hand in the final six points for Hofstra, scoring four on a layup and two free throws, while assisting on a Chris Jenkins three pointer.  The graduate student Nesmith's basketball career is a very unique story.

Nesmith was a two sport star in high school in New Jersey in basketball and football.  He was actually recruited by Northeastern as a quarterback and was a redshirt freshman for the Huskies.   Well, just like Hofstra did a short time later, Northeastern killed their football program.   Nesmith decided he would play basketball instead and inquired about a spot on the Huskies basketall team, but they had no scholarships available.    Northeastern was kind enough to allow him to transfer to Monmouth to play basketball.

But due to NCAA rules,  Nesmith had to sit out a year.  Why?  Because he switched sports when he transferred, he was not eligible to keep a year of eligibility.   Yes the NCAA, aka the No Clue At All, penalized Nesmith for transferring because he decided to transfer to play basketball instead of football.  In other words, Nesmith was punished for trying to find a school that would give him a scholarship to play a sport when his original school took away his scholarship and didn't have a scholarship in the other sport he played.  

This is another reason why people from Jay Bilas to Jerry Tarkanian have problems with the NCAA.   Their eligibility rulings, which often seem arbitrary, absolutely make no sense in an instance like this case.  Nesmith eventually would play two seasons at Monmouth, graduated and got his degree.  Then due to NCAA's graduate transfer rule, Nesmith transferred to Hofstra for his final season while going to graduate school.   It's ironic that Nesmith would end his college playing career with Hofstra, a school, as noted, just like Northeastern, killed its football program also in 2009. 

Hofstra has had their own history of players, from this season with Eliel Gonzalez to a few seasons ago with Brad Kelleher.   The NCAA ruled that Gonzalez received "partial" approval for his eligibility waiver.  If he makes the necessary academic progress, he will be eligible next season and be eligible for four seasons.   

Meanwhile, Kelleher had originally been ruled ineligible and was out  for the 2009-10 season due to supposedly signing a contract with an Australian pro league.  The general manager of the league in an interview said it was an application form, not a contract.  Eventually Kelleher received eligibilty for part of his senior season and was the starting point guard for the 2010-11 team that made the CAA Tournament Semifinals.

At halftime, Tieff and I made our way to Defiantly Dutch and his family's season ticket seats underneath the Hofstra basket.   It was there that I was greeted by my long time friend, mentor and former boss, Howard Graves.  Howard and I caught up for several minutes and it was great seeing my dear friend who taught me so much in my first administrative position on campus.

Tieff and I spent the second half watching the game with Jerry, Michelle and Molly, who is just absolutely adorable.  We caught up with each other on what's going on with our lives and of course, discussed Hofstra basketball.

The second half saw the Highlanders cut the Pride lead to six, 39-33.  Then Hofstra went on a 9-1 spurt as they buried three shots from beyond the arc.  Robinson sandwiched two three pointers around a Nesmith three pointer to give the Pride 48-34. 

NJIT would again cut the lead to single digits, but a Nwaukoni layup and a Jenkins three put Hofstra back up 53-40 with eleven minutes left in the game.  Defiantly Dutch appropriately compared the reserve Jenkins to "The Microwave" Vinnie Johnson, the longtime bench player for the Detroit Pistons known for his propensity to score quickly/heat up from long range.  Jenkins even looks like Johnson with his six foot four, 215 pound build.

But the Pride couldn't put the Highlanders away.  NJIT scored the next seven points to cut the lead to six, 53-47.  After the "Hofstra Microwave", Jenkins, put the Pride back up nine, 56-47, the Highlanders would respond with an 11-3 spurt over four minutes.   Lynn would bury two three pointers in a row to bring NJIT within one, 59-58 with 4:30 left in the game.  Lynn would hit six three pointers on the night for the Highlanders.

But Nesmith buried a clutch three to put Hofstra back up four, 62-58 with a little over four minutes left in the game,  Upshaw followed with two free throws to extend the lead to six.  Willis would respond for NJIT with a three point play to cut the lead to three, 64-61.

The Highlanders though would not get any closer by being their own worst enemy.  NJIT would go scoreless over the next two and a half minutes, due in large part to three turnovers in that span.  Meanwhile, Hofstra would hit five of their next six free throws, then get a layup from Moussa Kone to go up ten 71-61.   Lynn would hit one last three pointer for the Highlanders, but the Pride scored the final four points on free throws as Hofstra won 75-64.

Nesmith tied Lynn for most points scored on the night with twenty.  He added five assists and two steals.  Upshaw, the Pride's leading scorer on the season, added fifteen points and seven rebounds. Jenkins had twelve points on four three pointers and Robinson added eleven points.  The Pride shot forty eight percent, including ten of twenty two from beyond the arc.   Hofstra is now 4-8 on the season.

Lynn had his twenty points on six of twelve shooting from beyond the arc.   He was their only scorer in double figures as Willis, Howard and Terrence Smith each scoring nine points.  Other than Lynn, the Highlanders shot one of ten from beyond the arc and forty two percent for the game.   NJIT is now 6-10 on the season, not bad for an independent trying to find a home.

After the game,  Michelle, Molly, Tieff and I waited for Dutch and Jaden to finish with the post game press conference.   Coach Mihalich came out later and said hello to us, thanking us for coming out to the game.   Afterwards, the Beach clan, Tieff, Jaden and I went to Colony Diner on Hempstead Turnpike for a post game celebratory meal.    It was a great dinner with great friends. 

My evening ended with all of us saying goodbye out in the diner parking lot.  Afterwards, I dropped Jaden off at Mineola train station so he could make his train back out to Queens.  Then I headed back to where I was staying with my family at my in-laws house in Levittown.

As I drove back down Old Country Road, I thought about how the Hofstra game was a fitting way to finish my vacation trip.  It's been eight years now since I started my blog.   A lot has changed in those eight years.  Along with all the games I have covered in those eight years, I have two sons, many friends due to college basketball and a new job that's seven hundred and fifty miles away from my childhood home.  

But for one night, as the Allman Brothers put it, it was nice to be "Back Where It All Begins".  

It was nice to be back at the Mack. 

A Senior Day to Remember (Recap of UNCW vs. Hofstra)

After watching Fordham rally to defeat LaSalle, my son Matthew and I were able to quickly make our way out of a back exit of Rose Hill gym.  We made it  to our car in the Fordham parking garage quite quickly before the rest of the Ram and Explorer fans.  Our mission was to make it to Hempstead by 4:00 PM. We made it to Hofstra with time to spare for Senior Day at the Mack Center as Hofstra was hosting UNCW.

Senior starters Mike Moore, Nathaniel Lester and Dwan McMillan were all given a special ceremony by Hofstra University before their last home game as members of the Pride.  All three have been significant contributors this season. Moore, the leading scorer in the CAA,  and Lester, the eighth leading scorer in the CAA,  both scored their 1000th career points for the Pride this season.  McMillan, the CAA leader in assists per game, became the starting point guard after Steve Mejia struggled with injuries.

The three thousand plus fans in attendance gave all three a nice ovation, but nowhere near the ovation that last season's seniors Brad Kelleher, Greg Washington and Charles Jenkins received for Senior Day last season.  Perhaps that might have been because a) the Pride had a sold out Mack Center on Senior Day last season and b) the Pride were 13-4 in conference on Senior Day last season as opposed to 2-15 this season. It just so happened that Washington and Jenkins were in attendance for the day's festivities.

The Pride came out very quickly as they have done on several occasions this season.  Lester scored five quick points and Hofstra went out to a 9-0 lead.  UNCW Head Coach Buzz Peterson was so upset with his team's play, he benched all five starters two minutes into the game.

As has occurred several times this season, the Pride would see their early lead evaporate.  The Seahawks went on a 14-3 run over four minutes.  Tanner Milson's second three pointer put the Seahawks up 14-11 with twelve and a half minutes left.  The Hofstra fans had seen this act before and were afraid of the same result.

However, the Pride responded with a huge run. It started with what must have been forward Moussa Kone's longest jumper of the season, which was a ten foot bank shot.  Then a Moore three pointer and a Lester layup put  Hofstra back up 18-14.  Those three baskets were part of the Pride outscoring the Seahawks 34-11 the rest of the half.  Hofstra hit on nine of their last thirteen shots from the field and only missed two of their thirteen free throw attempts for the entire half.

The Pride led at halftime 45-25 in what was easily their best first half of the season.  The team shot six of ten from beyond the arc, had thirteen assists and outrebounded the Seahawks 21-11 in the first twenty minutes.  Moore and Lester had thirty two combined points.   This didn't seem like the same Hofstra team that had lost to UNCW in Wilmington earlier in the season.

During the game, Jenkins, now of the Golden State Warriors, was honored with a special game ball by Coach Mo Cassara.  It was for being the all time scoring leader in Hofstra history.  The entire crowd gave Jenkins a well deserved standing ovation.  Throughout the entire first half, kids came up to Jenkins for autographs and he more than obliged.  Charles Jenkins is truly a class act.

If anyone thought that the first half was a fluke, they were quickly dissuaded in the first six minutes.  Keith Rendleman tried his best (he had sixteen points and nine rebounds for the game), but the rest of the Seahawks were getting overwhelmed by the Pride.  The lead ballooned to thirty, 60-30, with 14:25 left in the game.  Moore and Lester had nailed two more three pointers and the rout was on.

Late in the second half, Hofstra had a lead of thirty seven points.  Think about this. A team that came into the game with only two wins in conference and nine wins in total  was beating their opponents 90-53 with a little over two minutes left.  Cassara cleared what little he has of a bench (due to injuries, redshirts and dismissals), making sure all his seniors got a standing ovation as they left the court.    The Pride would win their last regular season conference game in impressive fashion 93-64.

The final statistics were bewildering.  Hofstra shot fifty six percent from the field, including twelve of nineteen from beyond the arc.  What might have been more impressive was the Pride having twenty five assists and only eleven turnovers.  Moore had thirty points, including shooting six of nine from beyond the arc.  Lester added twenty points.  Stephen Nwaukoni held his own against Rendleman with a double double, ten points and ten rebounds.  Mejia and Shemiye McLendon each had ten points.  But perhaps the most impressive stat was McMillan with fifteen assists and only four turnovers.

Hofstra ended their regular season on a high note.  Hopefully it will give them momentum for next Friday night's first round game vs. Georgia State.   But at least all three seniors had a truly memorable performance in their last home game for the Pride.

Hofstra Beats Cleveland State at Its Own Game

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day in Rhode Island.  The temperature was around sixty degrees as I left my hotel and took the short drive down to Newport.  I spent part of the morning sightseeing, first around town, then I visited the Newport Shipyard.   I had never seen so many large expensive boats in one place in all my life.

As I walked back from the shipyard past the Marriott where the Hofstra team was staying, an older gentleman came up to his wife by the dock and said "The Hofstra University basketball team was having a team meeting in one of the rooms...". I didn't hear the end of the conversation, but I smiled as I made my way back to town.  It was nice to hear your home team making an impression on someone in Newport.

I got to the Ryan Center about an hour early before game time. When I sat down in my seat, the Pride were practicing on the floor.  Hofstra assistant coach Patrick Sellers was working with reserve Matt Grogan about defensive positioning.  After watching the game between Cleveland State and Hofstra, it definitely felt that the entire team was listening to Sellars.

When I watched Cleveland State play Boston University in the first game on Friday afternoon, I could see why the Vikings knocked off Vanderbilt and Kent State.  They play an aggressive man to man defense and every shot, pass and move are contested.  Watching two rows from the court yesterday, I can honestly tell you that Cleveland State is literally in your face.  They are literally on their man and it creates a very intense atmosphere.  You need to bring your lunch and be up to the task of playing them.

In the first half, it was clear that Cleveland State's had two game plans on defense.  The first was to come out with a press defense similar to the one that Rhode Island did so effectively against Hofstra.  The Pride were somewhat affected by the press, but not to the degree it was against the Rams.   The second was to take Hofstra's Mike Moore out of the game. D'Aundray Brown was assigned to Moore and he stuck to him like glue.  Moore attempted only three shots in the first twenty minutes, missed them all and only had one point.

However, the Pride found another scoring option in the first half and it came from an unlikely source. Reserve sophomore forward Stephen Nwaukoni came off the bench and sparked Hofstra with eight points, several of which came from offensive rebounds.  Nwaukoni had a career high with twelve points on the game.

The teams played evenly for the first twenty minutes as the largest lead by either team was four points.  The Pride took a late three point first half lead on two free throws by Nathaniel Lester.  But Jeremy Montgomery buried a long three pointer just before the buzzer and tied the game at twenty nine at the half.

Hofstra came out and took its biggest lead of the game at that time, 33-29 on two layups by Lester and Steve Mejia.  But the Vikings came back with a 13-4 run and took their largest lead of the game, 42-37 as Brown, their leading scorer on the season, scored the last two points of the run on a layup.

But the Pride followed back with a huge run of their own.  Over the next seven minutes, Hofstra outscored Cleveland State 20-4.   The Pride were mostly lead by their reserves Nwaukoni, Dwan McMillan and Bryant Crowder,  They combined to score sixteen of those twenty points.  Hofstra was up 57-46 with six and half minutes remaining.

The Vikings were frustrated on offense, as the Pride held them to 37.5 percent shooting on the field.  And when Cleveland State missed, Hofstra cleaned up on the glass.  In the second half, the Pride outrebounded the Vikings 20-8.   Cleveland State had only two offensive rebounds in the last twenty minutes of the game.

Cleveland State's frustration boiled over on one play late in the game.  On a fast break, Crowder was going in for a dunk attempt.  The Vikings' Aaron Pogue clearly intentionally fouled Crowder, who crashed to the floor and then was writing in pain on the court.  As the fans booed Pogue, Crowder was helped off the court.  Lester hit one of two free throws.   Hofstra would go on to win 63-53.

The bench came up huge for Hofstra.  Besides Nwaukoni's career high twelve points, McMillan matched him with twelve points and Crowder added eight.  The Pride Bench outscored the Vikings bench 32-14.   Lester and Mejia each had ten points.  Moore was held to five points overall, fifteen less than his season average. Hofstra shot 51 percent for the game, including 57 percent in the second half.

As for Cleveland State, they were led by Montgomery who had twelve points and Brown, who fouled out, had ten points.  The Vikings only had eleven free throw attempts as opposed to thirty one for the Pride.   Cleveland State was held to four of nineteen shooting from beyond the arc and scored their lowest point total of the season.  The Vikings had twenty nine fouls on the game and coach Gary Waters was clearly not happy with the officiating.

After a tough loss against the Rams on their home court, the Pride rebounded with their best effort of the season against a team many think could be the favorite to win the Horizon League.   And they did it in large part on the defensive end.   Hofstra truly beat Cleveland State at its own game yesterday.