Hofstra Captures Key CAA Win Over Old Dominion

HEMPSTEAD, NY – Hofstra held Old Dominion to just 27.5 percent field goal shooting and sophomore guard Charles Jenkins (Queens, NY) scored a team-high 15 points to help the Pride post a 60-51 victory in a key CAA matchup Tuesday evening at the Mack Sports Complex.

Jenkins finished just two rebounds short of a double-double while sophomore guard Nathaniel Lester (Brooklyn, NY) and senior forward Darren Townes (New York, NY) added 11 and 10 points, respectively, to give the Pride three double-figure scorers. Lester added 10 rebounds for his second career double-double, while Townes added a season-high four blocked shots to go with his season-high 10 points.

Hofstra won its second game in a row and recorded its sixth victory in the last eight games to improve to 16-9 and 8-6 against the CAA. Gerald Lee poured in a game-high 20 points for ODU but couldn’t prevent the Monarchs from dropping to 15-9 and 8-6 in conference play, tying it with the Pride.

Senior guard Zygis Sestokas (Vilnius, Lithuania) added nine points on 3-6 shooting from beyond the arc, giving him 101 career three-pointers, making him only the 15th player in school history to make 100. Sophomore forward Greg Washington (Centereach, NY) added three blocked shots to give him 100 in that category, one of only four players to reach that milestone. As a team, Hofstra blocked 13 shots, one shy of the school record set on two occasions (1999-2000 against New Mexico State and 2005-06 against Towson).

The Pride never trailed in the game, as Townes hit a pair of shots in the opening minutes to stake Hofstra to an early 9-3 lead. Hofstra led by as many as 10 points in the first half at 20-10 on a Jenkins jumper before settling for a 28-19 lead at the break after Townes converted on a put-back with 49 seconds left.

Old Dominion got as close as four points (38-34) in the second half on a fast-break lay-up from Keyon Carter with 14:20 left in the game. Sestokas answered with his third three-pointer coming out of a time-out to stretch the lead back up to seven. The Monarchs came within six points on six different occasions in the last 10 minutes, but could get no closer. Jenkins answered twice with the lead down to six in the final five minutes, and senior forward Arminas Urbutis (Kaunas, Lithuania) knocked down a fadeaway with the shot clock expiring and 1:28 left on the clock to push Hofstra’s lead to 55-47.

Hofstra out-rebounded Old Dominion 48-39 on the day in a battle between the top two rebounding teams in the CAA. Old Dominion came into the game first in the league with a +6.9 rebounding margin, while Hofstra was second at +6.1. Hofstra also improved its league-leading field goal percentage defense by holding the Monarchs to just 27.5 percent shooting on the day (19-69). Carter had 15 points for Old Dominion off the bench to support Lee’s 20-point effort, and Darius James added eight, but the rest of the Monarch team combined for only eight points on 2-28 shooting from the floor.

The Pride will next be in action when it travels to Delaware on Saturday for a 4 p.m. contest, which will be televised locally on MSG+ Network.

Tagged with: Brooklyn Ny, Centereach Ny, Charles Jenkins, Conference Play, Eight Games, Fast Break, Field Goal, Hempstead Ny, New Mexico State, Odu, Old Dominion, Queens Ny, School History, Second Game, Sixth Victory, Sophomore Guard, Sports Complex, Townes, Two Occasions, Vilnius Lithuania

Hofstra Captures Key CAA Win Over Old Dominion

Sportsday Publishing, LLC © 2003-2010