HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Despite Justin Pierce's 24-point, 14-rebound double-double, the William & Mary men's basketball team could not dig out of a double-digit first-half hole, falling 90-84 at Hofstra on Thursday night at the Mack Sports Complex. The Pride (16-11, 9-6 CAA) used a sizzling shooting stretch in the first half to open up as much as a 17-point lead, and despite cutting the gap to as little as four in the final 20 minutes, the Tribe (16-10, 9-6 CAA) could not complete the comeback.
 
The Pride opened up the game's largest lead thanks to a 17-4 first-half run. Justin Wright-Foreman (5) and Rokas Gustys (6) combined for 11 of the Pride's 17 points during the run. Hofstra hit seven of its eight shots during the stretch. Gustys scored six-straight to extend the lead to double-digits, before Wright-Foreman's lay-up pushed the margin to 46-29 with 4:33 left in the first half.  
 
W&M slowly cut into the deficit, scoring the final five points of the first half. The Tribe made it a 10-0 run spanning both halves with the first five of the final 20 minutes. Sophomore Nathan Knight scored the first two of the second half, before Pierce found senior Connor Burchfield for a triple to cut the gap to 48-41 less than a minute into the period.
 
The Green and Gold closed to within as little as five on four separate occasions in the middle stages of the second half. The Pride had an answer each time eventually pushing the margin back to double figures, 70-60, following a Jalen Ray 3-pointer and a Gustys free throw at the 8:10 mark.
 
W&M continue to battle back, scoring six in a row to narrow the gap to four with just under a minute remaining. Senior David Cohn knocked down a top-of-the-key 3-pointer, and Pierce put back his own miss to cut the deficit to 80-76 with 52.7 seconds left. The CAA's leading scorer Justin Wright-Foreman provided the dagger for the home team, hitting a contested wing 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to push the advantage to seven with just 30.1 seconds remaining.
 
Individual Players Spotlight
Sophomore Justin Pierce tallied his seventh double-double of the season with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Senior David Cohn added 18 points, while sophomores Nathan Knight and Matt Milon finished with 16 points each.
 
Eli Pemberton led all scorers with 26 points, while Rokas Gustys tallied his third career 20-point, 20-rebounds performance with 22 points and 21 rebounds before fouling out. Justin Wright-Foreman finished with 19 points and seven assists.
 
Inside the Numbers
- The Tribe finished the night shooting 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the floor, including 50 percent (15-of-30) in the second half. Hofstra connected at a 47.6-percent (30-of-63) clip, including 52.9 percent (18-of-34) in building a 12-point halftime lead.
 
- Hofstra converted 12 W&M turnovers into 13 points, outscoring the Tribe by 11 points in points off turnovers.
 
- The Tribe hit 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range, while the Pride connected on 10 triples on the night.
 
- W&M was 21-of-27 from the free throw line, hitting 77.8 percent. Hofstra was 20-of-30 at the charity stripe (66.7 percent). 
 
Notes
With his three assists, senior guard David Cohn set a Tribe single-season school record with 170 assists … The Green and Gold connected on nine 3-pointers to bring its season total to 286, which ranks third on the program's single-season list … W&M is only nine 3-pointers way from the single-season school record … Senior Connor Burchfield knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to bring his single-season total to 76, which is fifth in school history … Burchfield led the Tribe with five assists, which were a season-high and the second most in his Green and Gold career.
 
Up Next
The Tribe wraps up the road portion of the CAA slate when it travels to Northeastern on Saturday, Feb. 17. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m., from Matthews Arena in Boston, Mass. The game will be streamed online via CAA.TV and Stretch Internet. Tribe fans can catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Kris Sears 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.