Pride Successfully Returns to Holiday Festival
by Ray Floriani
NEW YORK – Hofstra made its return to the Aeropostale Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden a triumphant one. Several years ago under Jay Wright, the Pride captured two straight festival titles. Only a close loss in the 2000 finals to Penn State kept Hofstra from a ‘three-peat’.
“I was a part of that run as an assistant,” Hofstra head coach Tom Pecora said. “Now it’s special to come in and win it as head coach.”
Hofstra captured the championship with a 63-51 win over St. John’s, a solid but by no means an easy one for Hofstra. The Pride took an early lead they never relinquished, continuously having to weather Red Storm runs. Each time, they held their ground and never surrendered the lead. In the stretch, with an eight-point lead, Hofstra hit their free throws, took care of the ball and closed out the victory.
“This is just huge for us,” Pecora said. “Not just to play here but to win this tournament in the Garden is just great for our programs. I told our guys they are making another part of Hofstra history.”
The talk among the fans and media was the 6:30 game on the night of the semis with Hofstra and St. Joe’s would be the championship. The other bracket had St. John’s and Boston University. With no disrespect to the Terriers of the America East Conference, it appeared the brackets gave St. John’s an ‘easier’ route to the championship game.
The Red Storm advanced to the finals, but it was anything but easy. Norm Roberts’ club survived a 45-44 overtime scare against a team that entered with a 3-6 record and three freshmen in the starting lineup. This also happened to be Boston University’s first-ever appearance in Madison Square Garden. While sitting courtside as the BU assistants scouted the first game, all admitted their kids were excited but hoped there would be no ‘Garden jitters’. There weren’t.
If anything, St. John’s appeared to be the ones on edge. They went through a first half where they had more turnovers (9) than field goals (6). BU led at the break 19-17 and the contest remained close. Lamont Hamilton had a chance to win it in regulation. With the score tied at 42 and two seconds left, the Red Storm senior rimmed two foul shots. In the extra session, Hamilton put St. John’s ahead on a free throw with just over a minute left. On the final possession, the Storm had to sweat it out as a short hook close in the lane by BU at the buzzer rimmed and fell off and St. John’s held on. “Survive and advance”, as the late Jim Valvano would say.
The opener also gave us a last-second drama. Loren Stokes of Hofstra buried a top of the key jumper with seconds left to give the Pride a 65-63 victory, A senior guard, Stokes shared game-high scoring honors (15 points) with teammate Carlos Rivera. On the night, Stokes shot a sub-par 5 of 14 but was a gamer at crunch time.
“(Loren) was getting the ball on the last play whatever St. Joe’s was in, zone or man,” said Hofstra coach Tom Pecora.
“I’m one of the captains,” Stokes added, “I take a little more responsibility (with the game on the line).”
The most upsetting thing to St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli wasn’t Stokes’ last shot or that he got active down the stretch. Martelli was a bit frustrated and concerned over his team’s relinquishing a double-digit second half lead.
“Our team is on a very thin line,” Martelli said. “When you go 4 of 7 from the line the last two minutes and give a guy who had six points all year, eight for the game. We just didn’t take care of the ball.”
To Martelli, Stokes, Rivera and Antoine Agudio were known commodities in the Hofstra three-guard attack. He didn’t count on Chris Gadley, a 6-9 sophomore, to come off the bench and score eight while grabbing a big six offensive rebounds. Gadley also had a good showing against St. John’s in the finals. He scored eight points, pulled down seven boards and was an inside body to try neutralizing St. John’s Lamont Hamilton down low. Hamilton did score a team-high 22 points but Gadley made him work.
“Hamilton’s tough,” Pecora said. “We doubled down on him and took our chances with the guys on the perimeter.”
Gadley’s play the two nights was another point of optimism for Pecora. ‘We went in knowing how good our perimeter is,” he said,” now we know the baseline is good, too.”
Part of Gadley’s slow start this year, Pecora noted, was health. He suffered a concussion in a scrimmage and took a knee to the head early in the season. Now he’s just about full strength health and conditioning-wise, and showed it in the festival.
Stokes was asked if the recent success against St. John’s now makes Hofstra the best team in the New York metropolitan area. “We don’t think about that,” Stokes said, “we just play hard no matter the opponent.” To which Pecora jokingly added, “good answer Loren.”
In Martelli’s opinion, Stokes has a shot at playing in the NBA next season. “I think he (Stokes) just has to work on his outside shot a bit, which is kind of strange to say because he just beat us with a jump shot, ” Martelli said after the semis. “He also has to work on defense a bit. He’s very athletic and long. He gets to the basket better than Quincy Douby, who is in the NBA now. The only thing he doesn’t have is Douby’s range.”
Stokes saved the day in the semis, but Antoine Agudio scored a game-high 24 points for Hofstra in the finals and earned the Lou Carnesecca MVP award. “That’s the great thing about our guards,” Pecora said. “They are so unselfish and do not care who gets the points or shots. They are just a pleasure to coach because they are talented and unselfish.”
Ironically, this was the third straight season Hofstra and St. Joe’s faced each other. They met in the two previous NITs; St. Joe’s won in 2005 with Hofstra getting the W last March.
“I tell you, it’s better playing St. Joe’s in the Garden than at their fieldhouse,” Pecora quipped.
St. Joe’s edged Boston University 58-53 in the consolation game. For Martelli’s Hawks, it’s all part of the learning process, one that can be at times taxing on Martelli in his 11th year at the helm on Hawk Hill.
“Sometimes we take steps than take another step and hit a wall,” Martelli said. “This team can physically and mentally take you to the edge every day, but I really think if we improve the second half of the year, as we normally do, everything will work out fine.”
Ahmad Nivins, a 6’9″ sophomore, was probably the Hawks’ most consistent player the two nights. Nivins was in double figures both nights and had a fine 16 point 11 board effort against BU.
Despite going 0-2 Dennis Wolff took a lot out of the experience for his young BU club.
“We played hard both days,” Wolff said. “We learned we must be more efficient versus bigger, more physical teams. It’s hard for us to come back against those type teams.”
Wolff was especially pleased his club, easily handled 55-39 in a late November loss at St. Joe’s, came out and competed the full forty minutes in the consolation. Omari Peterkin, a 6’7″ senior, was a nice inside presence while freshman guard Tyler Morris had a game-high 17 points against St. Joe’s and impressed with his hustle and savvy both nights.
On The Baseline
- “The Hawk will Never Die” – but he does know profanity. Disagreeing with an official’s call the St. Joe’s Hawk came out with an S-word-laced comment. But he still kept flapping the wings. Regardless of the slip, the Hawk is this writer’s favorite mascot.
- All schools except BU brought cheerleaders. St. Joe’s and St. Joe’s had bands. For Diana Diehl a senior cheerleader on St. Joe’s the Garden has special significance. “It is the place I first cheered in college when we beat Gonzaga (three years ago),” the Edison, NJ native said. “It’s always great to be here and see all our fans cheering us on.”
- Hofstra wasn’t the only championship team on the floor. The Hofstra dance team, coached by alum Kelly Olsen, is defending UDA champions. “We work out six hours a day five days a week, two three-hour sessions when we are off from classes,” sophomore Rachel Barker said. “During the semester we practice about three hours a day five days a week.”
- To add to the Hofstra ‘Pride’ the cheer team is defending UCA champions in their division. So the Aeropostale Holiday Festival showcased a few champions from Hofstra University.
