HEMPSTEAD, New York – Junior guard Eli Pemberton led four players in double figures with a season-high 24 points and Hofstra shot 55.6 percent in the second half to rally past visiting UNCW, 87-72, in a Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball matchup Thursday night at the Mack Sports Complex.
 
The red-hot Pride won its 13^th consecutive game and raised its record to 16-3 overall and 6-0 in the league. The Seahawks, playing the first of two games in the Northeast, fell to 7-12 overall and had their CAA record evened at 3-3.
 
Hofstra kept its stranglehold on first place in the CAA by bouncing back from a 42-41 halftime deficit and outscoring the pesky Seahawks, 46-30, after intermission.
 
Pemberton led all scorers with his 24 points, including 14 in the decisive second period. Senior guard Justin Wright-Foreman added 19 points, junior guard Tareq Coburn collected 15 and senior guard Desure Buie had 11 and seven assists.
 
Redshirt junior forward Jeantal Cylla paced three Seahawks in double figures with 16 points. Senior forward Devontae Cacok scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his 13^th double-double of the season and 48^th of his career, while sophomore guard Ty Gadsden finished with 12 points.
 
The Seahawks stayed right with the CAA's lone unbeaten for 30 minutes before the Pride used a late spurt to pull away down the stretch. It was Hofstra's 11^th win without a loss this season at home.
 
A Cacok basket with 14:42 remaining put the Seahawks out front, 51-50, but the Pride used an 18-2 run over a 7:42 span to break the game open. Pemberton had six points in the rally and Buie's layup at the 6:50 mark staked the Pride to a 68-53 cushion and UNCW got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
 
Hofstra's largest lead of 19 points came with 1:43 left when Wright-Foreman dropped in a pair of free throws and the margin swelled to 84-65.
 
The Seahawks shot 48.5 percent and drained 6-of-10 from deep in the early going to carve out a narrow 42-41 advantage at halftime. Cacok, Cylla and Gadsden combined for 31 of the team's 42 points as the visitors hung tough with the league's frontrunner.
 
The Seahawks trailed, 30-27, following a layup by Wright-Foreman with just over five minutes left in the first half, when C.B. McGrath's club reeled off 10 unanswered points to jump ahead, 37-30. Gadsden sank back-to-back triples and his second one with 2:58 remaining gave the Seahawks their largest lead of the opening period, 37-30.
 
Hofstra responded, however, with an 11-2 spurt and regained the lead on a pair of free throws by Jacquil Taylor with 44 seconds left until UNCW's Ty Taylor rattled in a three-pointer with 20 seconds on the clock to give the Seahawks the halftime lead.
 
UNCW limited Wright-Foreman, the CAA's leading scorer and the third leading scorer in the country, to four points on 2-of-6 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
 
SERIES UPDATE: The Seahawks still own a 21-20 advantage in the series with the Pride and have won five of the last seven meetings with the Long Island school.
 
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS: The Seahawks were outscored at the free throw line, 23-7, and attempted 17 fewer free throws than the Pride.
 
CACOK VS. HOFSTRA: Cacok has posted double-doubles against Hofstra in back-to-back seasons at the Mack Sports Complex.
 
WRIGHT STUFF: Wright-Foreman struggled offensively most of the night and didn't get going until the final minutes. He drained his first three-pointer of the night with 5:46 on the clock and wound up with his 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
 
KEY MOMENT: Pemberton raced in for a layup with 14:25 remaining in the second half to give the Pride the lead for good after UNCW had taken a 51-50 edge on Cacok's jumper in the paint.
 
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN: UNCW and Hofstra play the second game in the home and home series on Saturday, Feb. 16, at Trask Coliseum.
 
QUOTABLE: "It came down to who played best in the second half ad, obviously, they did. We didn't want to give them second-chance opportunities. When they missed shots, they got offensive rebounds and that really hurt us." – UNCW Head Coach C.B. McGrath
 
NEXT UP: UNCW wraps up its two-day swing to the Northeast early Saturday with a noon tip-off vs. Northeastern at historic Matthews Arena in Boston.