Dec. 29, 2007
Final Stats
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Paced by 18 points and eight rebounds from red-shirt senior guard Louie McCroskey (Bronx, N.Y.), the Marist men's basketball team earned a 73-67 triumph over Hofstra on Saturday in the consolation game of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. McCroskey shot 4-for-5 from three-point range.
The Red Foxes committed just eight turnovers in the game, with only one coming in the second half. Freshman guard Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, Md.) had 16 points off the bench, and helped seal the victory by draining six of his seven free-throw attempts in the final 3:05.
After trailing by as much as seven in the first half, the Red Foxes went on a 23-6 run over a stretch of 8:09 as they expanded their lead to 10. Marist took a 37-28 lead into halftime, as McCroskey had a team-leading 12 points in the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, a 13-4 Hofstra run enabled the Pride to take a 48-47 lead with 12:03 remaining. However, McCroskey answered with a three-pointer with 11:01 to play, and the Red Foxes never surrendered the lead after that. Marist shot 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 1:11.
Seniors Ben Farmer (Clinton, Conn.) and Spongy Benjamin (St. Francis Village Erin, Trinidad) finished with nine points apiece. Benjamin also added six rebounds. Red-shirt senior Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio) added eight points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field while collecting five rebounds. Stilphen now has 995 points in his career.
Charles Jenkins finished with a team-high 21 points for Hofstra, which fell to 2-8 with the loss. Nathaniel Lester contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Pride were playing without Antoine Agudio, the nation's second-leading scorer.
The total of eight turnovers was the second best for the Red Foxes in a game this season. Marist had just seven in its triumph over Wright State on Dec. 1.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Red Foxes, who improved their record to 7-6 overall. Marist will return to action on Friday with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference contest at Rider. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
