Hofstra reaches CAA semifinals, 72-56
RICHMOND, Va. - Once Hofstra decided to take the ball inside against William & Mary, it was no contest.
After mostly firing away from outside in the opening half and struggling against the 11th-seeded Tribe, third-seeded Hofstra changed tactics and pulled away for a 72-56 win in a Colonial Athletic Association Tournament quarterfinal Saturday night.
CAA player of the year Charles Jenkins' three-pointer ignited a 15-0 run that ballooned Hofstra's lead from six points to 62-41 with 5:59 to go. "We talked about it," coach Mo Cassara said. "I think, in the first half, we settled a little bit too much. We took a lot of long jump shots. In the second half, we started to attack the basket a little more. Once we did that, it really opened up for some of these guys to drive and get to the basket."
Jenkins had 20 points, 15 in the second half. "I don't think I was aggressive in the first half," said Jenkins, who was only 2-for-7 from the floor before intermission. "A lot of my shots just rimmed out. In the second half, one of our freshmen, Paul Bilbo, told me to just relax. I think that gave me more confidence, and I came out in the second half and played better."
The Pride (21-10) will meet second-seeded Old Dominion (25-6) at 2:30 p.m. in Sunday's second semifinal. In the noon semifinal, top-seeded George Mason (26-5) faces fourth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth. The Pride lost to Old Dominion, 75-64, in Hempstead Jan. 15.
In beating the Tribe (10-22) for the third time this season, Hofstra got contributions from more than just Jenkins. Brad Kelleher had 13 points and four assists, Mike Moore scored 11 points and David Imes added 10 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Shemiye McLendon had nine points off the bench.
Hofstra had a CAA Tournament-record-low two turnovers, breaking the record of three - set by the Pride in 2007. The Tribe had 15 turnovers.
Another huge factor in the outcome was holding W&M swingman Quinn McDowell to six points. The junior scored a tournament-record 35 points in a first-round upset of sixth-seeded James Madison on Friday.
McDowell didn't score in the second half and got off only six shots in the game. "We wanted somebody else to beat us," Cassara said. "I thought once the game got going and we got into the flow of things, we kept the ball out of his hands. We moved guys around on him and changed defenses.
"I think that kept him off-balance and ultimately, I think them playing [Friday] wore them down a little bit. I think that showed midway through the second half. Our game plan on him worked pretty well."
Marcus Kitts was the only W&M player in double figures with 10 points. The Tribe scored the game's first nine points before Hofstra scored 11 in a row, and W&M led 27-25 at the half.
Said Cassara, "I told the guys at half to just relax. We were down, but we've been there before. We've been behind at the half a lot this year and battled back. Our guys don't panic, and that's a credit to their maturity.
"We were in a battle till the middle of the second half, and I think they maybe tired out after playing yesterday and we maybe found our legs. I'm proud of our guys for hanging in there when we weren't clicking and keeping the game close, and once we started clicking, we were able to pull away. William & Mary is going to be a tough team the next couple years. They have a lot of young guys and they play so hard and [Tony Shaver] is an outstanding coach.''
Jenkins lifted his career total to 2,483 points and is likely to become the 61st player in Division I history to reach 2,500 during Sunday's game. The guard, averaging 23.1 points per game, needs only 17.
