Charleston defeats Hofstra in battle of CAA rivals
Hofstra Pride guard Jaquan Carlos drives on Charleston Cougars guard Khalil London during the first half at the Mack Sports Complex on Thursday. Credit: Lee S. Weissman
It was a matchup of CAA heavyweights, so Thursday night’s game between Hofstra and visiting Charleston had a lot more on the line than your typical conference opener.
The Pride and Charleston were CAA regular-season co-champions in 2023, and Thursday’s winner would earn an early leg up in the conference race. Time will tell just how much the first CAA game means in the long run, but Hofstra will have some ground to make up from the jump.
After surrendering the lead it held for the entire first half, Charleston stormed back with 14 unanswered points late in the second half en route to a hard-fought 73-61 win at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.
The Pride and Charleston will meet again on March 2 in the regular-season finale for both teams.
“It’s definitely a good matchup,” Hofstra guard Jaquan Carlos said. “ . . . We all know it’s gonna be a great game every time.”
Hofstra went on a 10-2 run to grab a 57-53 lead with 7:13 left before allowing the 14-0 run.
Charleston (7-7 overall), which hit 12 three-pointers, was paced by Bryce Butler’s 18 points. Tyler Thomas had 21 points and Darlinstone Dubar added 20 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for Hofstra (10-4).
“I think it was a tough opener for both teams,” Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton said. “I don’t think we should have been playing each other, but it is what it is.”
The two teams played just once last season on Jan. 28, 2023, when Hofstra ended then-No. 18 Charleston’s 20-game winning streak with an 85-81 road win.
The Pride received a pregame boost with the return of 6-10 starting forward Jacco Fritz, who missed their last game against St. John’s with a back injury.
Charleston took a double-digit lead before Hofstra could blink, hitting six of its first seven shots to go up 16-4 just 4:04 into the game.
The Cougars are not a fantastic three-point shooting team — they were shooting just 30.6% from deep coming into Thursday — but they rely heavily on threes.
Hofstra allowed opponents to shoot 35.5% from three-point range and Charleston ranked third nationally in three-pointers attempted per game before Thursday, creating a recipe in which Charleston could be especially dangerous if its shots were falling.
“Not really [difficult to prepare for], because honestly, that’s the way the game is going,” Claxton said. “We know we got to defend the arc.”
Hofstra trailed by 10 with 6:02 left in the first half but heated up after a 1-for-11 start from three-point range, cutting a double-digit deficit to 34-32 at halftime.
Thomas’ midrange fadeaway shot — a signature for the nation’s sixth-leading scorer, who was averaging 22.2 points per game before Thursday — gave Hofstra its first lead of the game at 36-34 with 19 minutes left.
The Pride extended their lead to 45-39 with 16:35 left but then had a 4:22 scoring drought.
“Definitely a wake-up call,” Claxton said. “But it’s no need to press the panic button.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
