WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The William & Mary men's basketball team dropped its first home game of the season, 96-82, to Hofstra on Thursday night inside Kaplan Arena. After W&M (15-13, 9-8 CAA) took the lead on a pair of Jack Whitman free throws with four minutes remaining, the Pride (14-16, 6-11 CAA) scored the game's final 15 points to snap the Green and Gold's 12-game home court winning streak.
 
Senior Daniel Dixon tallied his fourth 30-point game of the season with a team-high 32 points on 12-of-21 from the field, including 5-of-11 from 3-point range. He added four rebounds and five assists. Senior Omar Prewitt added 12 points and five rebounds, while Whitman scored 11 second-half points to go with four rebounds and three blocked shots before fouling out.
 
Trailing by five, 65-60, in the middle stages of the second half, W&M used an 11-1 run to regain the lead. Dixon and Whitman combined for all 11 points during the run. Dixon scored the first six, pulling W&M even at 66 on a driving lay-up at the 10:55 mark. Whitman's free throws just 47 seconds left put W&M in front, and his thunderous dunk, while being fouled at the 9:06 mark,  brought the Tribe faithful to its feet. He completed the old-fashion three-point play to extend the Tribe leads to 71-66.
 
Hofstra's Justin Wright-Foreman scored nine-straight points to swing the advantage back to the visitors. His three-pointers at the 6:25 and 5:19 marks pulled the Pride even at 75 and then again at 78. He was fouled on a third triple attempt and sunk all three at the free throw line to give the Pride an 81-78 lead with 4:32 remaining.
 
The Tribe answered with four straight to briefly move back in front. Dixon's lay-up drew W&M within one and two Whitman free throws at the 3:57 mark put the home team back in front, 82-81. It was all Hofstra from that point as the Pride scored the game's final 15 points. Wright-Foreman's old-fashion three-point play with three and a half minutes remaining gave Hofstra the lead for good. He scored seven of the game's final 15 to headline the visitor's charge. Dixon and Prewitt missed three-point attempts at the 2:31 and 2:04 mark that would have tied the game, and the Pride hit its final three field goal attempts and five from the charity stripe to pull away.
 
W&M shot 50 percent (30-of-60) for the game, but only 40.6 percent (13-of-32) in the second half and were just 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range. The Tribe connected 78.9 percent (15-of-19) from the free throw line, but were outscored by nine points at the charity stripe. In fact, Hofstra out shot W&M by 11 at the free throw line (30 to 19). Junior guard Oliver Tot led W&M with eight rebounds off the bench as the Tribe held a 37-32 advantage on the glass. Junior Greg Malinowski scored nine points for W&M, while classmate David Cohn dished out five assists.
 
Hofstra finished the game at 45.3 percent (29-of-64) from the floor, including 14-of-31 (45.2 percent) from three-point range. Wright Foreman led all scorers with 35 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 7-of-12 from three-point range. Deron Powers added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Eli Pemberton chipped in 16 points. Rokas Gustys pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds.
 
The Tribe hit six of its first eight shots from the floor, opening up a nine-point lead just over four minutes into the contest. Malinowski scored four of the Tribe's first six points, and Prewitt's three-point off a dish from Dixon gave W&M a 14-5 lead and forced a Hofstra timeout at the 15:47 mark.
 
Five-straight Hofstra points closed the visitors within one. Pemberton knocked down a triple midway through the second half, before a Gustys lay-up drew the Pride within 24-23 with 9:22 remaining. Dixon scored five of W&M's seven points during a quick 7-2 spurt to re-establish a six-point cushion, 33-27, at the 6:30 mark.
 
The Pride tied the game at 35 thanks to six-straight points, including four from Powers. Wright-Foreman's three-pointer at the 2:14 mark gave HU its first lead of the game, before W&M pulled even at the break on a Prewitt lay-up with a minute remaining in the half. The Tribe shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, but Hofstra kept pace thanks to seven three-pointers.
 
The teams traded buckets to start the second half and the contest was tied on four occasions in the opening eight minutes of the final frame. The Pride opened up a five-point cushion on back-to-back three-pointers from Jamall Robinson and Wright-Foreman. The latter gave HU a 65-60 lead with 11:48 to play prior to W&M's 11-1 run.
 
The Tribe closes out the regular season when it welcomes Towson to Kaplan Arena on Saturday, Feb. 25. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m., and the game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet with Al Koken and John Feinstein on the call. The contest will be streamed online for FREE in HD on Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet. Saturday will also be Senior Day as W&M honors its senior class of Porter Reinhart (manager), Daniel Dixon, Omar Prewitt and Michael Schlotman for their contributions to the W&M program.
 
Tribe fans can also catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.