Men’s Basketball Drops Close Battle to Hofstra

Thursday, February 28

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7 p.m.

Drexel University

13-17

Hofstra

24-6

Hofstra

Drexel

Men’s Basketball Drops Close Battle to Hofstra

2/28/2019 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Drexel men's basketball team (13-17, 7-10 CAA) dropped a close conference affair to the Hofstra Pride (24-6, 14-3 CAA) by a final of 80-77 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Thursday night. Graduate transfer Trevor John broke Drexel's single-season three-point mark in the loss as he climbed up to 98 treys on the season.

Junior Alihan Demir, who scored a team-high 24 points, had a chance to tie off an inbounds play with 1.2 seconds left but his three did not fall at the buzzer as the Pride escaped the DAC with the win. Demir also had five rebounds and four assists on the night.

The Pride would take the lead for good when Desure Buie made a pair of free throws at the 4:36 mark of the second half. Drexel kept it close in the final minutes and made it a possession game on a number of occasions. Trailing by five with 18 seconds remaining, John hit his sixth three of the night to pull the Dragons within two at 78-76. Two free throws on the other end brought the Pride lead back up to four points. On the ensuing possession, freshman Camren Wynter was fouled on a three-point attempt. He hit the first but missed the second. With 2.0 seconds left, Wynter intentionally missed the third free throw, but the ball went out of bounds off a Hofstra player. The Dragons had one last chance with 1.2 seconds on the clock, but Demir's open look from straight on hit the front of the rim as time expired.

John knocked down six three-pointers as he became Drexel's single-season three-pointer leader, passing Dominick Mejia who hit 92 in the 2005-06 season. He heated up in the second half, draining five treys over the last 20 minutes, He finished with 20 points and six rebounds in the loss. Sophomore James Butler finished with a career-high 18 points while grabbing six boards. Demir had a nice night making nine of his 13 field-goal attempts.

Wynter, a five-time CAA Rookie of the Week, had 15 points with eight assists and seven rebounds. Nine points came in the first half on 4-of-7 shooting. Wynter now has 160 assists on the year, tying the Drexel freshman record set by Kurk Lee in 2016-17.

Early on, Drexel held a 14-6 edge following a 9-0 Dragon run in the opening minutes. Shooting 50% in the first half, Hofstra eventually took its largest lead of the game at eight, 37-29, with 1:50 left in the first half. Drexel trimmed it down to five with a three-pointer, record-setting No. 93 on the season from John, and then four after a free throw from Demir with 13 seconds left. The half ended with a tip-in from Hofstra's Justin Wright-Foreman, who scored a game-high 32 points, stretching it back up to six at the break, 39-33.

Drexel shot 46.8% from the floor (29-of-62), 33.3% from deep (7-of-21) and 66.7% from the line (12-of-18).

NEXT UP
Drexel closes the regular season at the DAC on Saturday, March 2 with Northeastern. Tip is set for 4:05 p.m. with action airing on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Drexel will honor its outgoing senior class before the finale.