On Saturday February 17th I drove 94 miles up island to the David S. Mack Sports Complex at Hofstra University in Hempstead. Little did I know on the beautiful drive through falling snow that I’d soon be watching history. Boston’s Northeastern University was playing the Pride after traveling 219 miles to Hempstead after a 4 point loss to CAA Conference leading College of Charleston on Thursday February 15th. The quick turnaround and Hofstra’s talent would take its toll on the Huskies.
Hofstra came out hot with a 7-0 run and led 9-2 before the first TV timeout four minutes in. With 1:26 to go in the first half Northeastern cut Hofstra’s lead to 4 points 32-28. Then Darlinstone Dubar had a rim rocking dunk in front of me at my baseline media seat. “Dstone’s” rim-rocker catapulted Hofstra to a 41-30 lead at halftime outscoring the Huskies 9-2 in the last 1:26 of the half. It was more of the same after halftime with the Huskies cutting the 11 point lead to 8 in the first 3 minutes of the second half until Hofstra ran off 9 straight points to lead by 17. They won the game by 20 points 82-62 but it wasn’t until the postgame press conference that I’d find out Hofstra and CAA history had been made.
Hofstra is coached by Division 1 basketball, NBA and Hofstra Legend Craig Elliott “Speedy” Claxton. Speedy is Hofstra’s career assist leader with 660 assists accumulated over his 4 years playing for Hofstra from 1996-2000. When the Associated Director of Athletics introduced Speedy and Junior guard Jaquan Carlos to us in the postgame press conference he revealed that Jaquan had just set the Hofstra single game and CAA assist record with 19 assists! Carlos beat the previous records (16 assists) by 3! When asked about his record setting game Carlos replied, “it’s definitely a day I’ll remember” “but shoutout to my teammates” “German (Plotnikov) going 7-9(20pts)” “Stone (Dubar) going 10-16 (24pts). Not only did the Junior from Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson High School thank his teammates, he showed tremendous humility after shattering the Hofstra and CAA single game assist records.
Jaquan also moved into a tie for ninth on Hofstra’s all time career assists list with 362. A list he’ll be moving up on soon. As we go to press I’m excited to watch Hofstra this Thursday February 22nd at 7pm against Drexel. The Dragons come to Hempstead with a 17-10 record (10-4 CAA). After the win Hofstra enters Thursday’s game at 16-11 (9-5 CAA).
