It was lose one, win one in the resumption and continuation of local rivalries for Hofstra, which fell to Iona on Dec. 5 in the first game between the programs in almost nine years before beating Stony Brook last Wednesday in the now-annual clash of Long Island’s Division I programs.

Pandemic-permitting, the Pride is scheduled to remain local, sort of, this week with a trip to the Jersey shore to face Monmouth Tuesday before heading way upstate to battle St. Bonaventure on Saturday. Here is a look back at some of the facts and figures from the games against Iona and Stony Brook and hopeful looks ahead to the Hawks and Bonnies.

GAELS FORCE A WIN

Tareq Coburn scored a career-high 28 points on Dec. 5, but Iona wore down Hofstra with its press and a barrage of 3-point attempts as the Gaels earned an 82-74 victory. The win was the first at Iona for Rick Pitino and made him just the fourth Division I coach to win a game in six different decades. Isaac Kante had 17 points and eight rebounds and Jalen Ray added 15 points for the Pride, which twice led by a point early in the second half before falling behind for good with 15:08 remaining. It was the 41st all-time meeting between Hofstra and Iona but the first since Dec. 29, 2011.

3-FOR-3 FOR RICK

Rick Pitino’s first win at Iona also made him just the third known coach to beat Hofstra with three different schools. Pitino’s Providence team beat the then-Flying Dutchmen, 97-61, on Dec. 29, 1986, and his Louisville squad beat the Pride, 97-69, on Nov. 12, 2013. Jim Lynam (8-3 against Hofstra with Fairfield, American and Saint Joseph’s) and Nick Macarchuk (9-7 with Canisius, Fordham and Stony Brook)also beat Hofstra with three schools. Jim Baron went 3-1 against Hofstra with St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island and Canisius but did not beat the Pride at the latter stop.

KNOTTED AT THE HALF

Hofstra and Iona were tied 34-34 at the half. It was the first time Hofstra has been tied at the half since Feb. 23, 2017, when the Pride beat William & Mary, 96-82, in a game tied 41-41 at the half. The loss to Iona marked the first time the Pride lost a game that was tied at the half since Jan. 5, 2017, when James Madison earned a 62-54 win in a game tied 33-33 at intermission.

TOEING THE LINE

Tareq Coburn was 13-of-17 from the free throw line in the loss to Iona. The last Hofstra player to get to the line as frequently in a single game was Juan’ya Green, who was also 13-of-17 on Nov. 25, 2014, when the Pride fell to South Florida, 71-70.

CRAMER COLLECTS HARDWARE

KVonn Cramer became the first Hofstra player to win a weekly CAA award when he was named the CAA’s rookie of the week for the week ending Dec. 6. Cramer posted his first double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) in a 73-58 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 30 before scoring nine points (on 4-of-4 shooting) and collecting six rebounds in the loss to Iona. 

STILL LONG ISLAND’S TEAM

Hofstra maintained its supremacy over Stony Brook on Wednesday night, albeit in far more interesting fashion than it might have preferred as the Pride squandered nearly all of a 23-point second-half lead before hanging on for a 72-67 win. Hofstra led 60-37 with 14:02 left before being outscored 22-2 by the Seawolves over the next 11-plus minutes. A pair of Jalen Ray jumpers in a 75-second span extended Hofstra’s lead to five points and helped keep the Seawolves at bay. Tareq Coburn (19 points) led four Pride players in double figures, followed by Isaac Kante (15 points), Caleb Burgess (12 points) and Ray (10 points). Hofstra is 24-5 all-time against Stony Brook, whom it has beaten five straight times and six times out of seven since the series resumed in 2014.

WHAT’S A UNICORN SCORE AND HOW MANY DO THE PRIDE HAVE NOW?

A unicorn score is a score by which the Pride have never won before. Neither of Hofstra’s two wins this season have been unicorn scores. The Pride recorded 13 unicorn wins last season, two more than in 2018-19. The term unicorn score was coined by New York Mets superfan, historian and blogger Greg Prince to describe a score by which the Mets had never previously won. 

LOSE ONE, WIN ONE, LOSE ONE, WIN ONE

Hofstra is 2-2 with losses in the first and third game and wins in the second and fourth game for the second straight season. This is also the third straight season the Pride has opened 2-2 and the 31st time in program history.

CALEB GETS THE POINT

Sophomore Caleb Burgess locked up the starting point guard job over the last two games. After setting career-highs with five points and seven assists over 32 minutes against Iona, Burgess had an even better game Wednesday, when he scored 12 points in 35 minutes and collected six assists. He’s committed just one turnover in the last two games. Shawndarius Cowart, who split point guard duties with Burgess in the first two games, is no longer on the team and has entered the transfer portal.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Freshmen David Green and Vukasin Masic scored their first points for Hofstra in memorable fashion Wednesday. Green, who started and was scoreless in the Pride’s first three games, scored all five of his points before the first media timeout against Stony Brook. Masic, who played eight minutes in the first two games before a DNP-CD against Iona, was inserted in the final minute and hit a baseline layup to extend the lead to five points.

COBURN BABY BURN

Tareq Coburn continued his early-season surge Wednesday by scoring 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-9 from 3-point land. Coburn has scored 68 points while shooting 20-of-37 (54.1 percent) over his last three games. That’s the most points he’s scored in a three-game span while the shooting percentage is his best over a three-game span since Dec. 8-19, 2018, when he drained 63.3 percent of his shots while taking seven fewer attempts (19-of-30).

STILL NOT TWO UNDER

The win over Stony Brook kept alive a unique streak for Hofstra, which hasn’t been more than one game under .500 since it finished the 2016-17 season with a 15-17 mark. Only 15 other mid-majors have gone longer without falling at least two games under .500. The list shrunk by two last week as CAA rival Charleston fell two games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2014-15 season and UNC Greensboro dropped two games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2015-16 season.

SO WHO HAS A DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING STREAK NOW?

Tareq Coburn and Isaac Kante each scored in double figures against Iona and Stony Brook to extend their streak of double-digit scoring efforts to three games apiece.

KENPOM PONDERINGS

The Pride fell to second among CAA teams in the KenPom.com rankings. Hofstra enters today ranked no. 163, nine spots behind Drexel. Hofstra is down 16 spots from its season-high ranking of no. 147 prior to the game against Iona.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Coronavirus-permitting, the Pride is scheduled to hit the road to take on a pair of relatively familiar non-conference foes.

Hofstra and Monmouth will hope the second time is the charm Tuesday, when the Pride visits the Hawks. The teams were supposed to open the season against one another on Nov. 25 but the game was postponed hours before tip due to a positive Tier 1 case within the Monmouth program. The schools have opposed each other in each of the last three seasons, with Hofstra winning all three games — including a 94-74 victory on Long Island on Nov. 9, 2019 — to narrow Monmouth’s lead in the all-time series to 6-4. The hosts of The Hawks Nest Podcast were kind enough to have me on the show over the weekend as we previewed the game — you can check it out here.

The Pride are planning to take their longest road trip yet by visiting St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon. The teams have opposed each other three times since the 2015-16 season, including last year, when St. Bonaventure routed visiting Hofstra, 73-45, on Dec. 7, 2019. The 28-point margin of defeat is tied for the largest since Joe Mihalich became head coach prior to the 2013-14 season. Hofstra trails the all-time series 5-1 and earned its only victory with an 89-83 win in Olean on Nov. 28, 2015.

Jerry Beach has covered Hofstra sports since arriving on campus in the fall of 1993, when Wayne Chrebet was a junior wide receiver wearing No. 3, Butch van Breda Kolff was the men’s basketball coach for the East Coast Conference champions and Jay Wright was a little-known yet surely well-dressed UNLV assistant coach. Check out Jerry’s book about the 2000 World Series here and follow him on Twitter at @JerryBeach73.