Lethal weapons
Hofstra guards combine for 81 points Saturday
By John Galle, sports editor
Posted on February 26, 2007

In the last game of the regular season, the JMU men’s basketball team could not stop, slow down or even hinder Hofstra’s dominating guard-play, which combined for 81 points in its 98-78 win at the Convocation Center Saturday night.

The Pride’s 81-point total from senior guards Loren Stokes and Carlos Rivera, along with junior guard Antoine Agudio, was the trio’s most ever as a four-year unit. Their previous best of 74 combined points came against Towson last year.

“The scouting report starts and ends with them,” JMU sophomore forward Kyle Swanston said. “They’re all quick, they can all shoot and they’ve been together for a long time.”

Said Keener: “The only team that rivals them with the backcourt is [Virginia Commonwealth University] … but [Hofstra’s] the best backcourt in the league. They’re the best backcourt in a lot of leagues.”

Stokes, who almost didn’t play in the game due to a tight thigh, was virtually un-defendable as he racked up 13 points in the first half and 14 more in the second. The thigh didn’t seem to bother him too much as he drove the lane time after time.

“We allowed some dribble penetration that led to fouls,” Keener said. “And we put them on the line. I thought there were some times we didn’t trail hard enough and that allowed them to get their feet. Agudio and Rivera, in particular, are very quick shooters.”

Rivera just would not stop hitting threes.

He went six of seven on the night from downtown, and in the second half, Rivera didn’t miss from behind the arc (3-of-3). The one time it didn’t go down, JMU sophomore guard Joe Posey fouled him. Rivera was perfect on the night from the stripe (7-of-7) and finished with a game-high and career-high 37 points.

“[Rivera’s] getting square and elevating again,” Hofstra coach Tom Pecora said. “You watch him shoot the ball and even when he misses it looks good. But now he’s on a little bit of a roll shooting the ball and obviously he’s automatic from the foul line.”

But Rivera wasn’t the only one hitting 3s for the Pride.

Agudio rang up five 3-pointers on nine attempts on his way to a 17-point performance. In doing so, he broke his own season record for 3-point field goals (95).

In the second half, Hofstra shot 81.8 percent from three-point range.

“Their strength in their offensive guard-play is our weakness in our defensive perimeter play,” JMU coach Dean Keener said. “We need to be better.”

It was a game with little to play for, as both teams’ seeds were unaffected by the contest. Even so, Hofstra’s only two seniors in Stokes and Rivera were not about to call it a regular season and go home to prepare for just the CAA tournament.

“When we look back we don’t want to say that we left anything behind,” Stokes said. “We want to just go out there and leave it all out there. A goal of ours before we came into the season was to go down and win the CAA and get into the tournament.”