Nathaniel Lester scores 33 as Pride beats LIU

Nathaniel Lester had a front- row seat to all the Charles Jenkins-related history last season, which, with all due respect, was the last thing he wanted. Lester would much rather have been playing instead of sitting out the entire schedule with a quadriceps injury.

"A whole year it took me to get back on the court. I was real anxious to get back out there with my teammates again. Today was that day, and I just let it all out," Lester said Friday night after a stirring, stunning game for him and his team. The senior scored a career-high 33 points as the Pride began the post-Jenkins era with an 89-71 rout of visiting LIU.

The scene, played out in front of 3,589 people who made a lot of noise on opening night, was unexpected.

First, even Hofstra coach Mo Cassara had been worried about his team's ability to score without Jenkins, the all-time school scoring leader, who was sitting in Section 101, waiting to start his locked-out rookie year with the Golden State Warriors.

Second, LIU is, as they would say near the Blackbirds' campus in Brooklyn, not chopped liver.

When last seen, LIU was in the NCAA Tournament, putting on a good show in a 15-point loss to North Carolina. Sure enough, LIU didn't play great in the first half but still trailed by only two points, 32-30. But Hofstra came out aggressively after intermission, pulled away and kept going. Mike Moore scored 21 of his 23 points after halftime.

"I took notes from Charles. In the offseason, I talked to Charles about how I have to step up," said Moore, who stays in touch through Twitter, other social media and in Jenkins' regular visits to the Hofstra gym. "He told me if it's not going well in the first half, stay positive."

There was much about which to be positive for the Pride in the opener. "I thought they defended us well with the zone and they shot the heck out of the ball tonight," said LIU coach Jim Ferry, who used to coach Adelphi and still lives in Merrick. "I thought a lot of it snowballed from basic basketball. We turned the ball over 20 times and we went 17-for-32 from the foul line."

It was a basic dream night for Lester, who never scored more than 22 points in a game before his injury. "I knew when I'd come back, I just had to step up,'' he said. "I wanted to be out there. Watching my teammates play, and me sitting on the bench, it just kept building up and building up until today."

It was a pretty good night for the team, too. "About as good as I could imagine," Cassara said.

Which is not to say Hofstra is unrealistic.

As Moore said, "I'm not going to say I'm going to replace Charles. His jersey is up in the rafters. I'm just trying to be the best player I can be."