Three is the charm for Moore, Hofstra

Money (shots) grew on threes for Hofstra Saturday.

The Pride put together 11 three-point baskets and five conventional three-point plays to defeat Siena, 81-69, in a non-conference game before a crowd of 2,075 at Mack Sports Complex. That ended Hofstra's losing streak at four games.

"When the shots are falling, everything else works better," said Hofstra guard Mike Moore, who served up six treys on his way to a 30-point game.

What worked best was Hofstra's three-pronged offense. Stevie Mejia supported Moore outside with a career-high 16 points, nailing four shots from downtown, and had four of the Pride's 11 steals. Nathaniel Lester supplied an inside presence with 15 points, including consecutive three-point plays early in the second half as Hofstra (9-20) took a 49-39 lead with a 12-2 run.

"A lot of different guys stepped up and did a lot of different things to help us find a way to win," Hofstra coach Mo Cassara said. "This feels good. It's nice to see the ball go in the basket for a change."

Siena (12-15) actually shot better than Hofstra, making 58.5 percent, but was only 3-for-13 from three-point range. The Pride was 11-for-23 from downtown, shot 16-for-20 from the free-throw line compared with 4-for-5 for the visitors, forced 21 turnovers and committed only 10. "Steve and Dwan are real ballhawks," said Cassara, who pointed out that Hofstra had 21 assists on its 27 baskets.

Still, typical of this difficult season, it wasn't easy. Siena, which got 22 points from power forward OD Anosike and 17 from guard Kyle Downey, who shot 8-for-11, rallied to take its first lead of the second half at 59-57 on a pull-up jumper by Evan Hymes with 8:30 left.

But 39 seconds later, Stephen Nwaukoni took a nice feed from Shemiye McLendon (five assists off the bench) to score inside, drew a foul and completed a three-point play that put Hofstra ahead 60-59. "That play probably won us the game," Cassara said.

The Saints took their final lead at 61-60 on a turnaround in the lane by Anisoke. But Mejia hit his second consecutive three and McLendon knocked down his only three to make it 69-65.

When Siena pulled to within 71-69 with 3:48 left, the Pride turned to Moore, who maneuvered to the left side of the court, where he hit five of his threes. "It depends on the day. That's the way it is with shooters," Moore said. "Sometimes it's the right side, but today, I definitely felt it on the left side. When we set up, I was motioning the other guards to go through so I could stay there. The left side was showing me some love."

That trey sparked a 10-0 run to close the game for Hofstra, which has two CAA regular-season games left before the conference tournament in Richmond March 2-5. "This is a positive look for us heading into Richmond," Moore said.