Nassau, Bahamas – (Contributed) – December 1, 2024 – Arkansas State men’s basketball overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to tie Hofstra at 66 with 21 seconds left, but a buzzer-beating layup by Michael Graham lifted the Pride to a 68-66 win on Sunday at the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship.
The Red Wolves (5-3) relied on the three and the free-throw line to surmount the deficit, knocking down four treys and converting 10 foul shots in the final 7 minutes, 30 seconds. Hofstra (6-3) managed to evade the A-State pressure, and Jean Aranguren found Graham in the paint for the final shot before the horn sounded.
Derrian Ford led the Red Wolves with 17 points, with nine of those points coming from the perimeter, while Kobe Julien had 16 points – 12 in the second half. Joseph Pinion added 12 points off the bench – all in the final 20 minutes and nine of which came from deep.
A-State shot 43.8 percent (21-48) from the floor and went 18-for-22 (81.8 percent) at the charity stripe. Hofstra posted a 48.1-percent (26-54) clip, led by Cruz Davis’ game-high 24 points. Graham added 14 points and 12 boards to help the Pride win the rebounding battle 32-29, with Aranguren scoring 10 points with four assists.
Ford accounted for A-State’s first five points to make it an early 5-2 advantage, but the Pride took an 11-9 lead on back-to-back baskets from Silas Sunday. The lead went back to the Scarlet and Black on a Julien dunk, followed by a Taryn Todd lay-in to make it 16-12 with 10:10 to go in the half.
Hofstra reclaimed a 21-20 lead on back-to-back scores by Aranguren, but A-State answered on a Ford layup to lead 22-21 with 5:34 left. The Pride led 29-27 with 37 seconds remaining following a layup by German Plotnikov, but Terrance Ford Jr. tied it in the final seconds to make it 29-all at the break.
A Julien score opened the half, giving the Red Wolves a 31-29 lead, but Hofstra went on an 11-2 run to reclaim a 40-33 lead. Following a three-point play by Izaiyah Nelson, the Pride mounted a 10-0 stretch to push its lead to 50-36.
With 4:57 remaining, Pinion cut the deficit down to nine with a trey to spark a 10-0 run that he also ended with a triple to make it a 60-58 affair with 2:48 left. Hofstra answered with four points to widen the gap back to six, but five straight free throws from Ford, Julien and Todd made it 64-63 with 1:36 to play. Davis scored on a layup with 1:14 to go to push the score back to 66-63 before Julien tied it with a layup and a 1-of-2 mark at the line. Hofstra took possession off the rebound, setting up Graham’s final shot.
NEXT UP
Arkansas State returns home Thursday to face Jackson State inside First National Bank Arena. Tip-off against the Tigers is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
