March Madness: Hofstra earns NCAA Tournament bid after defeating Monmouth in CAA title game

It had been 25 years.

Nine thousand, one hundred and 31 days.

It was worth the wait.

Because Hofstra is going dancing.

The third seed Pride topped fourth-seeded Monmouth, 75-69, in the Coastal Athletic Association men’s basketball championship game at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C.

By winning the conference championship, Hofstra (24-10) claimed the CAA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Pride have qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2019-20. That tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will be the first time Hofstra has played in an NCAA Tournament since the 2000-01 season. That team, coached by Jay Wright and led by Norm Richardson, lost to UCLA, 61-48, in the first round.

Hofstra has now won two CAA titles in the program’s history.

Tuesday’s conference championship tilt was the third meeting of the season between Hofstra and Monmouth. Hofstra won the two regular-season meetings, taking a 67-64 decision in overtime on Jan. 10 in Hempstead and, 21 days later, routed the Hawks, 73-57, in West Long Branch, N.J.

Monmouth (19-15) did not have senior guard Kavion McClain for those games, due to an NCAA investigation for potential rules infractions. The 5-10, 165-pound senior guard from Memphis made his season debut in Monmouth’s 76-75 win over Stony Brook on Feb. 5 at Island Federal Credit Union Arena, and averaged 16.9 points and 5.4 assists in the 10 games he played prior to Tuesday night.

After being limited to two points in the first half, McClain erupted for 11 points in a span of 2 minutes, 40 seconds, which turned Hofstra’s 35-32 halftime lead into a 45-39 deficit. McClain led Monmouth with 19 points.

Following McClain’s third three-pointer in the stretch, Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton called timeout to calm his team down. The gambit worked. Hofstra responded with a 12-2 run to regain the lead, 51-47. Six of the Pride’s 12 points in the stretch were scored by Silas Sunday (layup) and Victory Onuetu (dunk and putback).

Sunday finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. Onuetu contributed eight points and six rebounds in 12 minutes.

Along with getting the bigs involved offensively, Hofstra took advantage of opportunities from the free-throw line. The Pride converted 16 of their 20 second-half free throws, and shot 82.1% from the line for the game.

By comparison, Monmouth converted 14 of 20 free-throw attempts.

Still, for all of the Pride’s good work in the second half, they held a 58-52 advantage with eight minutes remaining.

Almost three minutes later, the lead had been trimmed to three, 61-58, after Stefanos Spartalis and Jason Rivera-Torres each knocked down jumpers, and McClain made two free throws.

Preston Edmead, the CAA Rookie of the Year, responded by drilling a straightaway three to extend the lead to four. Edmead led all scorers with 26.

After Monmouth closed to within two following a Rivera-Torres jumper and two free throws, Cruz Davis converted a floater in the lane to push the advantage to 66-62.

Davis, the CAA Player of the Year, ended with 12 points.

But Monmouth would not go away. At least, not easily. Justin Ray drilled a right-side three to cut the deficit to one.

On the ensuing possession, German Plotnikov knocked down a three to stretch Hofstra’s lead to 69-65.

Edmead, Davis, and Plotnikov each made two free throws in the final seconds.

Hofstra started the game slowly on offense, missing eight of their first 11 shots. But beginning with Onuetu’s layup 7:21 into the game, the Pride finished the first half having made nine of their final 19 attempts from the field.

Hofstra took its first lead of the game, 24-23, on Davis’ right- side three with 7:52 left in the first half. The bucket was Davis’ only points of the half.

As he did in the semifinal win over Towson, Edmead picked up the scoring load. The freshman from Deer Park scored 16 first-half points with a variety of floaters and played all 20 minutes.