Hofstra lets one slip away down the stretch at James Madison
Hofstra's Tareq Coburn. Credit: Phil Hinds/Hofstra University
On the day before Valentine’s Day, Hofstra got their hearts broken. The Pride blew a 12-point first-half lead and couldn’t keep up with host James Madison late, as they fell, 93-89, in a key late-season CAA matchup in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
"Not a good performance, and a lot of that starts with me," acting Hofstra head coach Mike Farrelly said after his team was outscored 18-8 in the final three minutes.
Hofstra’s Tareq Coburn led all scorers with 28 points, plus seven rebounds. Jalen Ray added 26 points.
Matt Lewis scored 20 points to lead James Madison (12-5, 7-1 CAA).
Hofstra, despite what Farrelly called "atrocious" defense in the second half, led for most of the game. JMU kept nibbling and Hofstra (12-8, 8-5) kept answering, until those fateful final three minutes when those nibbles became bites.
Michael Christmas’ three-pointer with 1:44 left gave JMU an 82-81 lead, their first of the game. Ray came right back with a layup to give Hofstra the lead.
But it wouldn’t last.
An 8-1 JMU run pushed their lead to six points with 24 seconds left. A three-pointer by Ray and two free throws by Coburn cut the JMU lead to two with nine seconds left.
But two lane violations on missed free-throw attempts by Omar Silverio with 2.4 seconds left, followed by a game-ending dunk by JMU’s Justin Amadi off a long inbounds pass sealed the loss.
"They all sting," Farrelly said. "It’s a miracle that we had a chance to win after how bad we were and everything we did wrong. To even have a chance at the foul line like that to tie it up and send it to overtime with [2.4] seconds to go, that was a gift from the basketball gods we couldn’t take advantage of. But we didn’t deserve to win the game."
It’s losses like these that make the back-to-back weekend series scheduling — brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic — a little easier to swallow. In a "normal season," Hofstra might have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to play again, with a long bus trip in between. This year, they get another shot at James Madison at 2 p.m. Sunday, only 22 hours after heartbreak.
"Obviously, 22 hours is a little extreme, but I’m excited," Farrelly said. "I wish we were playing right now."
