Poor defense is to blame for Hofstra in CAA loss to Towson

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Speedy Claxton reached his hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. A moment earlier Zach Cooks lunged in desperation at Towson’s Jason Gibson, who had pulled up at the top of the three-point line and had room.

Cooks made contact with Gibson and a whistle blew. Shooting crowd. Three shots.

It was a moment that summarized how the night went for Hofstra.

“We definitely got what we deserved,” Claxton said after Hofstra’s 78-68 loss to Towson Thursday at the David S. Mack Sports and Entertainment Complex.

Hofstra has lost two straight and are 13-9 overall and 5-4 in the CAA following the first of three conference games at home in five days. The Pride host James Madison Saturday afternoon and UNCW Monday.

“I love that we don’t have that much time to rest,” Claxton said. “We got to have short-term memory and move on.”

Certainly there will be precious little Claxton and the Pride will want to remember from the second and final regular season matchup against the Tigers. In the first meeting, a 78-66 loss on Jan. 11, Hofstra allowed Towson to tie a school record with 16 made three-pointers.

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This time, defense was still a significant concern for the Pride.

By the end of the first half, the Tigers had made an absurd 69.6% of its shots from the field (16-for-23, including 8-for-11 from three (72.7%) and led 43-33. By comparison, Hofstra shot 33.3% from three (5-for-15) and 42.9% (12-for-28) overall.

There’s more.

In a span of seven minutes and twenty-one seconds, Towson knocked down 10 straight shots from the field and in doing so, turned a 21-16 deficit into a 40-31 lead. In that same stretch, the Pride only made 3 of 10 shots.

“We didn’t play any defense,” was Claxton’s analysis of the first half. “There’s a lack thereof. That was a problem.”

Hofstra began the second half playing noticeably more aggressively on defense, but the Tigers used that to their advantage as they went to the foul line 22 times, and made 17. Whereas Hofstra only took — and made six free throws — for the entire game, while attempting 29 three-pointers.

Claxton said he didn’t mind that.

“We were getting good looks,” Claxton said. “You could say that if we weren’t getting good looks but they were wide open shots and we have good 3-point shooters. You want them to be confident and if they have a good look, take the shot. They just didn’ t fall for us tonight.”

Aaron Estrada led the Pride with 22 points. Nicolas Timberlake led all scorers with 26.

By Denis P. Gorman Special to Newsday

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