Hofstra goes cold in final 4 1/2 minutes in loss at Delaware
Hofstra's Jalen Ray Credit: Hofstra University /Philip Hinds
The Hofstra men’s basketball team had no answers for host Delaware after halftime Friday afternoon.
"Certainly very frustrating, especially in the second half," Hofstra acting head coach Mike Farrelly said after his team’s 74-56 Colonial Athletic Association loss at Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Delaware. "Credit to Delaware. They made shots, executed and got good looks. They did a good job defensively as well."
Delaware (4-5, 2-2 CAA) closed the game on a 14-0 run. The Pride (6-6, 2-3) was held scoreless for the final 4:26 and was outscored 42-25 in the half.
Jalen Ray had 25 points for Hofstra, which led for only 3 minutes, 38 seconds in the first half and was never able to tie or take the lead in the second.
The Blue Hens’ Ryan Allen, a CAA preseason second-team all-conference player, scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half.
Delaware big men Andrew Carr and Dylan Painter dominated inside. Carr had 13 of his 19 points in the second half and Painter totaled 18 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. Delaware had a 46-28 scoring advantage inside the paint.
The story of the first half was two big runs by each team.
A 14-2 run gave Delaware a 26-15 lead. Ray then scored 10 of his 13 first-half points in the final six minutes as part of a 16-6 run that brought Hofstra within 32-31 at the half. He added 12 points after the break and totaled five rebounds and three assists.
"To take a bad start, a slow start and be there to make it basically even at halftime was excellent," Farrelly said. "We had to come out and play a better 20 minutes, a good 20 minutes, and we certainly didn’t do that."
The teams will square off again at 1 p.m. Sunday in Delaware.
"With limited bodies and the amount of minutes these guys play, we can’t expect these guys to be running up and down and doing a whole lot tomorrow,’’ Farrelly said. "A lot of it is going to have to be filmwork and walk-throughs. We are going to address issues, correct errors, etc., but it’s going to be a lot more mental work than physical for sure."
