City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Tavon Allen put on an inspired performance Saturday, knocking down multiple tough looks and scoring a career-high 33 points.

There was a problem for Drexel, though.

“The rest of everyone just did the same thing we’ve done all year,” Dragons coach Bruiser Flint said afterward.

And the same thing has been giving away leads and falling short, which the team did again Saturday in a 70-64 loss to Hofstra at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Allen shot the ball incredibly well, going 12-for-24 from the field and 6-for-14 on 3-pointers. But the rest of his team went 12-for-50 and 2-for-11 in those departments.

“It’s been frustrating all year. He gave us 33 today, but we play like that,” Flint said of Allen. “He had his moments late in the game, too. But he played pretty well, so I’m happy for him. His mom was here today, so he had a good game. I said his mom has to come every day. Even some practices, to be honest.”

Allen – who also had three rebounds and two assists in 39 minutes – was the main reason Drexel (3-18, 1-9 CAA) got out to such a good start against Hofstra (16-6, 8-2 ), which entered the day tied for first in the CAA. The Dragons led by as many as 11 in the first half and were up by six at halftime, limiting the Pride to just 24 points in the first half. Early in the second half, Allen scored eight points in a row for the Dragons to push their lead to 47-34 with 14 minutes left.

But then the Dragons stopped making shots, started committing more fouls and Hofstra started too look more like a team with NCAA Tournament aspirations. The Pride went on a 22-5 run after Allen’s eight straight points, and they took their first lead of the game when Ameen Tanksley (Imhotep Charter) had a steal and layup to put them up 52-51 with 7:44 remaining.

Drexel kept it close up until the final minute, but when the Dragons missed four shots on one possession trailing by four with less than 30 seconds left, they did themselves in. Hofstra, meanwhile, iced the game at the free throw line – where the team went 22-for-25 in the second half.

“We’ve done this the last three games, the same thing,” Flint said. “You can’t be afraid not to lose, and that’s the way we play. We’ve talked about doing certain things, we do them the whole time, and then all of a sudden things change.”

In addition to the strong free throw shooting, Hofstra had a strong second half from the field. The Pride shot 62.5 percent (10-for-16) in the second half after a mark of just 33.3 percent in the first half. They also hit four of their eight 3-point attempts in the final 20 minutes after missing their first 12.

“We didn’t shoot it in the first half, but that’s what we’re going to do,” Hofstra coach Joe Mihalich said. “I told these guys the only time I’m going to be upset with you is if you have an open shot and don’t take it. So we kept doing it.”

Flint credited the lead slipping away to the amount of foul shots Hofstra had in the second half as well as a few turnovers that the Pride turned into points, even though Drexel had a season-low five giveaways. Kazembe Abif added 11 points for the Dragons and Sammy Mojica had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but it was not enough for the team’s sixth consecutive loss.

In fact, in their last three contests, the Dragons have held the lead in the second half at some point. But they’ve all ended in the same fashion.

“We’ve been playing actually some of the better teams in the league over the last three games, and we’ve been giving them games,” Flint said. “But that’s why they have the record that they have and we have the record that we have.”