Hofstra beats Stony Brook with second-half rally in 'Battle of Long Island'
Hofstra Pride guard Darlinstone Dubar drives the ball past Stony Brook Seawolves forward Chris Maidoh in the first half of an NCAA men’s basketball game at Island Federal Arena on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In the so-called “Battle of Long Island,” Hofstra again got tough when it counted the most.
The Pride took advantage of virtually every chance they got in the final 8:39 against Stony Brook and held the Seawolves at bay in the late going to pull out an 80-74 Coastal Athletic Association victory Monday night before 3,027 at Island Federal Credit Union Arena.
The Pride (10-9, 3-3) scored on 14 of their last 17 possessions to complete a comeback from an eight-point deficit early in the second half. Darlinstone Dubar had eight of his 30 points and Jaquan Carlos had seven of his 23 as Hofstra outscored the Seawolves 28-17 to close the game.
“We put the ball in the right guys’ hands,” Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton said. “It’s all about trust, and we trust our guys to make the right plays at the end.”
The “Battle” has been a matter of honor for the Island rivals and has intensified since Stony Brook (9-10, 2-4) joined the Pride in the CAA before last season. They now play twice each season with far greater stakes, and it has shown in the past two meetings. Hofstra eked out a three-point win over the Seawolves in their second game last season to sustain its drive to the regular-season title.
This one was no different. Hofstra shook off its habit of starting slowly and took a 15-4 lead after less than seven minutes. Dean Noll scored seven of his 19 points and Chris Maidoh added seven of his 12 as Stony Brook responded with a 22-2 run in a span of 6:56 to go ahead 26-17, and the Seawolves held the lead for more than 23 minutes bridging the two halves.
Stony Brook led 37-32 at halftime. “I told them ‘we got them right where we want to — we’re only down five and we’re usually down 15 at this point,’ ” Claxton said. “ ‘In the second half, we go out and control the game.’ And that’s exactly what we did tonight.”
Hofstra took its first lead of the second half with 6:52 remaining, and an 8-0 run gave the Pride the lead for good at 64-59. Dubar’s free throw with 1:35 left made it 72-65, and after Noll’s two free throws with 43.8 seconds left got Stony Brook within 73-71, Carlos went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and German Plotnikov added a three-point play for an 80-71 lead. Hofstra scored 48 points in the second half.
“Disappointing loss,” Seawolves coach Geno Ford said. “We led plenty of the game . . . It’s kind of been an unfortunate formula for us in these close losses, where we’ve led the majority of the game and we have not been able to stop anybody in the second half. That’s got to get corrected, and we just haven’t been able to correct it. Until we figure it out, it’s not going to get any easier.”
Pride leading scorer Tyler Thomas was blanketed all game by Tyler Stephenson-Moore and Sabry Philip and managed only 11 points and 5-for-16 shooting, but he had two big buckets in the final stretch. Dubar added 11 rebounds and Carlos had six assists.
Andre Snoddy, a Newsday 2020 all-Long Island second- teamer from St. Anthony’s and Central Connecticut, had 17 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for Stony Brook and was praised by Ford as “the only one who played at a high level.”
The Seawolves were just 5-for-22 on three-point attempts and failed to capitalize on a size advantage, with 7-footer Keenan Fitzmorris and Maidoh shooting an aggregate 5-for-14 and grabbing only three offensive rebounds.
“Can’t be 5-for-14,” Ford said. “We threw it in there and we traveled. We threw it in there and they double-teamed, so we kicked it out and missed [three-pointers].”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.