Hofstra beats Rider, 58-48
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - There is nothing to focus the mind quite like an emergency. In the case of Hofstra's non-conference men's basketball game at Rider University last night, a 16-point first-half lead had melted completely away with 10 minutes to play, whereupon Hofstra suddenly reverted to its earlier attentive, efficient dominance to complete a 58-48 victory.
"The thing is to not let our team panic," Hofstra coach Mo Cassara said. "You can't overreact and you've got to move on. One of our big sayings, in practice and in our games, all the time, is 'next play.' These guys are sick of hearing it. We say 'next play' and move on."
The home team, in an unexpected burst without prior warning, had just gone from easy Rider - missing its first 15 three-point attempts - to rough Rider with some crashing offensive putbacks to binocular-necessary three-pointers to draw even at 39-39.
That brought the first tie since 4-4, but Hofstra collected itself and, with a sort of basketball badinage, answered Rider's long-range shooting with some of its own.
Charles Jenkins - a man who regularly has kept Hofstra from going astray during his celebrated career - initiated Hofstra's corrective measures with a slashing, spinning layup to take back the lead. Then Jenkins' three-pointer and successive downtown baskets by freshman Shemiye McLendon sent the Pride on a 13-2 spurt, a lethal dose of firepower from which Rider couldn't recover.
"I'm not going to sit here and feel good because we were energized for a six-minute stretch," Rider coach Tommy Dempsey said. He noted that his team attempted 28 three-pointers (making only six) and four free throws (making only two), a recipe for failure.
Hofstra (3-3), meanwhile, was feeling better about "learning how to play together," Cassara said. "We still have a tendency to tighten up here and there; that's part of youth and inexperience. We're a work in progress but we're learning how to win."
With Cassara in his rookie season and five of the top eight players in last season's playing rotation missing - two graduated, two transferred, one is injured - Jenkins again provided direction with 19 points (14 in the second half), two steals, two assists, two rebounds and a blocked shot. Transfer guard Dwan McMillan scored 10 and McLendon's eight points were especially timely, making Cassara, he said, "look like a smart coach."
To beat Rider, after all, is to handle a school with a proud basketball tradition. Digger Phelps played here and Clair Bee started Rider's athletic department before winning championships at LIU in the 1930s. Rider also claims to be "undefeated since 1951" in football. That's the year it dropped the sport. Of course, in an emergency, Hofstra could say it is undefeated in football since 2009.
