NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — All along, all Hofstra wanted was a chance. It gave itself that with a record-breaking season and again with a stirring comeback in the second half Tuesday night. Chances were there, the Dance is not. The Pride fell short of its dream to reach the NCAA Tournament, falling behind Northeastern early, catching up, then not having the extra gear to keep it going. With the 82-74 loss in the CAA Tournament final, they will settle for the NIT. Justin Wright-Foreman’s 29 points were not enough to offset the long-range shooting of Northeastern’s Vasa Pusica, who made five three-pointers in the second half and took the wind out of Hofstra, which had rallied to tie after trailing by 16 at halftime. Looking back on it, the top-seeded and regular-season champion Pride realized that they had put themselves in too big a hole to start. “You only get so many chances in life to do something like this. We had our chance and came up short,” coach Joe Mihalich said. “We have to deal with it, we have to own it. You’ve got to give credit to Northeastern. They were the better team tonight. They played two halves, we played one.” Had it been more even at intermission, perhaps the Pride (27-7) would have had enough energy down the stretch to reach March Madness for the first time since 2001. But they scored only 26 in the first 20 minutes. Having filled up the nets all season, on Tuesday the team denied itself a chance to cut them down. Justin Wright-Foreman, who carried the Pride to a school-record win total, scored 29 points and set a CAA single-season points record and moved into second place on Hofstra’s all-time scoring list. But that was no consolation. Only one other Hofstra player scored in double figures, Eli Pemberton with 15. That was no match for the five double-figure scorers for Northeastern (23-10), led by Pusica’s 21. Subscribe to Sports Now newsletter By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. “We felt we still had a chance to win the game, but the basketball gods just weren’t on our side,” Pemberton said. “They played the right way two halves, we only played the right way for one. There’s really not too much to say on that.” Still, when Jacquil Taylor sank two free throws with 9:13 left in the second half, it was 54-54 and it seemed like the Pride’s “refuse to lose” mantra was kicking in. The season had been filled with big efforts and dramatic endings, such as the time Wright-Foreman made a 40-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Northeastern in Hempstead. “They’ve had an unbelievable year, a storybook year, really,” said Northeastern coach Bill Coen, a Port Jefferson High School graduate and the only Long Island native with a role in this game. “You look at the \[16\] consecutive wins, Justin Wright-Foreman is the player of the year. They’re really, really talented.” But Northeastern has talent, too, with a roster strengthened by the return of Shawn Occeus after he missed much of the season with a foot injury. He had 11 points Tuesday and made the all-tournament team (as did Wright-Foreman and Taylor). “They made shots when they had to,” Mihalich said. All year, it was Wright-Foreman who made the most and biggest shots. The senior was just about inconsolable. His teammates encouraged him, reminding him about the NIT. “They told me to get ready for the next one, just stay positive. We have a game left. Something to look forward to,” he said. “I’m going to continue to be the leader I’ve been all year.”<doc-sep>NC State has a date with Hofstra in the NIT on Tuesday, so let’s get hyped, everybody! Er, well, yeah so this ain’t super exciting at this juncture. On the bright side, the game will have to be played at Reynolds Coliseum since the Hurricanes have a home game that night. The winner of NCSU-Hofstra will advance to play the winner of No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 6 Harvard. Who knew we might see Omer Yurtseven back in Raleigh? I mean, sitting on the bench in street clothes, but still. As the two seed, NC State will host the second round game if it advances. NC State’s NIT region/bracket/quadrant/whatever they call it: 1) UNC-Greensboro 2) Campbell 4) Davidson 5) Lipscomb 3) Georgetown 6) Harvard 2) NC State 7) Hofstra Indiana, Alabama, and TCU are the other one-seeds in the NIT. Clemson, Texas, and Creighton the other twos. We might as well go win the whole dumb thing, I guess. State-Hofstra will be on ESPN2.<doc-sep>NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Justin Wright-Foreman had 42 points as Hofstra narrowly beat Delaware 78-74 in overtime in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament semifinals on Monday night. Tareq Coburn had 13 points for Hofstra (27-6). Eli Pemberton added 11 points and six rebounds. Jacquil Taylor had four blocks for Hofstra. Jalen Ray made four straight free throws in the final 16 seconds of overtime. Ithiel Horton had 21 points for the Fightin’ Blue Hens (17-16). Kevin Anderson added 17 points and six rebounds. Ryan Allen had 14 points<doc-sep>
If Hofstra is going to capture the National Invitation Tournament championship this year, it’ll have to be as a No. 7 seed, and only if the team survives an opening-round matchup against a Power Five school. The Pride’s postseason journey became more complicated than previously projected Sunday night when Hofstra — which many bracketologists predicted would be a sixth seed — dropped down a slot. It earned itself a date with No. 2 North Carolina State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Reynolds Coliseum in North Carolina in one of four eight-team regionals. The Wolfpack (22-11), seeded eighth in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, lost to No. 1 Virginia, 76-56, in a quarterfinal. Hofstra (27-7) nearly had a date to The Big Dance but lost to Northeastern, 82-74, in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament final. The first three rounds of the NIT will be played at the higher seed beginning March 19, with the semifinals and championship game at Madison Square Garden on April 2 and 4. Hofstra never has won the NIT. This year’s NIT will include some rule changes: An NBA-width free-throw lane, a shot clock that resets to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound (down from 30) and the elimination of one-and-one free throws. Plus, the three-point line will be extended to 22 feet, 1¾ inches — 20 inches farther out — which could benefit Hofstra, the CAA leader in three-point field-goal percentage at 38.9 percent. Tuesday could be a shootout, as each team led its conference in offense. North Carolina State averaged 86.1 points and Hofstra 83.6, led by Justin Wright-Foreman’s 27.0 points per game.