Hofstra rally spoils Tom Pecora’s emotional homecoming

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – Quinnipiac Bobcats head coach Tom Pecora bemoaned his team’s inability to keep his former school off the glass, but his regrets went far deeper on Sunday.

After spending 16 years at Hofstra (seven as an assistant coach and the next nine as a head coach, from 1994-2010), it had been almost as long since Pecora finally returned to the place that he lamented leaving.

After a moving pregame tribute made him teary-eyed, Pecora saw his long-time disciple, head coach Craig “Speedy” Claxton, and the Hofstra Pride (9-4), use a late 14-2 run to turn a three-point deficit into a game-high nine-point lead, and ultimately, a 74-66 victory over Quinnipiac (9-4) at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.

Initially composed, Pecora focused on the defeat itself – particularly Hofstra’s sizable rebounding advantages of 51-34 overall, including 21-11 on the offensive boards.

“The game was rebounding, and they just beat our ass on the backboards,” he said. “You can’t give teams 21 offensive rebounds and expect to win a basketball game. So, they did a great job. They did a good job of executing mismatches when we got to our switching defenses, and Speedy’s a hell of a coach.”

However, when asked about the special honor he received before the opening tip, Pecora suddenly had trouble controlling his emotions as he spoke about a far bigger loss while reflecting on his decision to leave Hofstra and chase what he thought would be a career step up as the head coach of Fordham to start the 2010-11 season.

“I’m a tough guy, I ain’t gonna cry,” Pecora insisted before trying to collect himself. Fighting back the tears, he admitted, “I never should have left.”

After a couple of disconsolate shrugs from the coach who was born in nearby Queens Village, N.Y., who graduated from Garden City, N.Y.’s Adelphi University, and who cut his teeth at Long Island Lutheran High School (1984-87) before coaching close by at Nassau Community College (1987-89) and SUNY Farmingdale (1989-92), Pecora joked through a sad voice, “[Leaving Hofstra was] my mid-life crisis. My wife said I should’ve got a sportscar and a girlfriend instead of going to Fordham.”

After another pause to gather himself, Pecora dejectedly tapped the postgame presser table three times with his right index finger, and could barely get the words out as he went on to speak about Hofstra and Claxton.

“This is a great place, and I’m so happy that one of my guys is here, running it and keeping them great,” Pecora said.

In his own right, Pecora has quite successfully resurrected his own career at Quinnipiac (in his third season there) after failing miserably at Fordham.

Pecora referenced the famous Grateful Dead album “What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been” when talking about his and Claxton’s journey to this point. Claxton is in his fifth season as Hofstra’s head coach after matching Pecora’s seven years as an assistant with the program. They keep crossing paths nearly three decades after their first association.

The 67-year-old recruited Claxton when he was a Hofstra assistant under then-Hofstra head coach and eventual Hall of Famer Jay Wright.

To this day, Claxton remains one of Hofstra’s best players in program history. He led the Pride to an America East conference championship and Hofstra’s first NCAA Tournament in 23 years in 2000. After Claxton became a first-round NBA draft pick the following summer, Pecora and Wright duplicated the feat without Claxton and guided the Pride to the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year. That led to Wright leaving for Villanova, where he later won two national titles while Pecora moved up the bench to become Wright’s successor at Hofstra, where he went 155-126 (.552) as the head coach. He still ranks second in most head coaching wins for the program.

Pecora failed to win more than 10 games in any of his five seasons during his dismal Fordham reign, while posting a 44-106 record there. But after serving as a college basketball television analyst and being a Quinnipiac assistant for six years, Pecora matched his total number of Fordham wins over his first two years as the Bobcats’ head coach while being named the MAAC Coach of the Year each of those seasons.

While facing old friends is something that Pecora nor Claxton like to do, setting up a home-and-home series starting last year was necessary to fill out each teams’ schedules. Quinnipiac edged Hofstra by six points in overtime at home last year, the only other time Pecora had coached against the Pride.

“[It’s] mixed emotions,” Pecora said. “Obviously, it’s hard for me to come back here. When Speedy and I decided to play this series, neither of us could get games last year, so that’s why we decided to play each other.”

“I hate playing my friends,” Claxton said. “Last game, playing against (Syracuse head coach Adrian) Red (Autry), last year playing against Sha (Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Halloway), I don’t like it one bit.” 

Fittingly, for much of Pecora’s defense-first, sometimes offensively challenged Hofstra tenure, Pecora’s homecoming was a defensive grind (featuring 11 ties and 12 lead changes) with offensive efficiency at a premium on both sides, as the Bobcats shot just 37.7 percent (23-for-61), while Pride was about the same, at 37.5 percent (24-for-64) from the floor.

Junior guard Cruz Davis scored Hofstra’s first 12 points and 20 of the Pride’s 31 in the opening half.

Hofstra led 27-20 but missed its next 10 shots as Quinnipiac scored the next 11 points before the teams reached halftime tied at 31.

“I think we got a little stagnant,” Claxton said. “We weren’t moving the basketball. We weren’t driving the basketball. Once we settled in and started driving and making crisp passes, we exploited [the zone later].”

With each team continuing to struggle from the field, both squads changed their approach and got to the foul line a lot more in the second half. The Bobcats were 2-for-2, and the Pride 3-for-6, from the foul line in the opening half, but Quinnipiac was 13-for-18 and Hofstra 14-for-17 after intermission.

Following his prolific first half, Davis disappeared for the first 15-plus minutes of the second half, but he was picked up by freshman point guard Preston Edmead, who overcame a brutal first half, during which he was scoreless while missing all seven of his shots. Edmead scored 18 second-half points on 6-of-13 shooting to keep the Pride in the game.

“He had a rough first half, but to his credit, he didn’t let it affect him,” Claxton said of Edmead. “He stayed aggressive and made huge plays in that second half for us.”

Likewise, graduate guard German Plotnikov failed to score in the first half (on two shots), but netted 12 key second-half points while hitting a big, late 3-pointer for a second straight game.

After stopping an 11-0 run with a clutch, game-deciding 3-pointer in the final seconds to give Hofstra a thrilling one-point upset win at Syracuse in the Pride’s prior game on Sunday, Plotnikov barely beat the shot clock with a clutch right-wing trey to put Hofstra up 68-63 with 1:24 remaining. Before that, neither team was able to take more than a four-point lead in the second half.

“When it comes down to the last few seconds of the game, the last minute, that’s when you’ve got to be a little extra locked in, and I think that’s what this team does,” Plotnikov said before drawing a laugh from his coach when he told Claxton. “I wasn’t told that the ball might come to me, Coach, but I’m happy it did.”

A smiling Claxton patted Plotnikov on the back, and responded, “The ball finds shooters. Another big shot.”

Although he didn’t score in the second half until he added seven key points late, Davis’ driving layup brought the Pride within one with 4:46 left, and his second-chance three-point play 52 seconds later put Hofstra ahead to stay at 63-61. Davis also followed Plotnikov’s key 3 with two free throws to make it 70-63, with 53.6 seconds remaining. Quinnipiac never got closer than that margin thereafter.

Despite scoring only two points and missing all four of his free throw attempts, junior center Victory Onuetu (11 rebounds, five offensive boards, and four blocks) played a vital role defensively and on the glass, securing nine rebounds – including four offensive – in the second half.

“The way he defended the paint and rebounded the basketball for us in the second half, he just controlled and manned our defense down the stretch,” Claxton said. “He’s an importance piece of what we do here.”

Onuetu’s contributions were only part of what Pecora and Claxton both agreed was the main difference – the rebounding – in a sharp reversal from the Bobcats’ win over the Pride last season.

In that game, Quinnipiac outrebounded Hofstra 51-29, including a dominant 23-3 on the offensive glass.

This time, the 51 boards were the Pride’s most in nine years while the 21 offensive rebounds were Hofstra’s most in 14 seasons. That helped lead to a 28-18 advantage in second-chance points, which more than offset the Bobcats’ 9-0 edge in fast break points.

“We owned the glass in the second half, and that was the biggest key coming into the game,” Claxton said. “That was the game. I’m glad we owned the boards. Last year, they owned the boards, and that’s why they won.”

Meanwhile, Pecora’s players should prepare to hear an earful.

“I’m gonna ream ‘em,” Pecora said. “We’ll watch film of every offensive rebound [Hofstra got], the first thing we do on the 26th before we get on the floor for practice.”

While three Bobcats – freshman forward Keith McKnight (19 points), freshman guard Tai Turnage (12 points, all in the second half) and senior forward Amarri Monroe (11 points) – reached double figures, it wasn’t enough to overcome the absence of Quinnipiac’s leading scorer, injured sophomore guard Jaden Zimmerman (17.0 points per game).

Pecora’s past career decision misgivings and each head coach’s apprehension about playing against old friends aside, both Pecora and Claxton were happy the reunion took place.

“I’m very honored by the program beforehand,” Pecora said. “It was very nice… It was cool. You saw how many of my friends and family were here. It was nice to come back. I think the world, obviously, of Speedy and his staff. I’m close with [my former Fordham assistants] Tommy (Parrotta), especially, and Mike (DePaoli).”

“It was a special moment,” Claxton said. “I think we both wanted this game very much. We had to spoil his homecoming but definitely going to root for them going forward. They’re going to be a tough out in the MAAC. He’s done a terrific job there. They have a really good team.”

As if the sentiments of the day weren’t enough, Pecora – who still has a Long Island home near Hofstra – also wasn’t feeling well, but there was some solace in being able to stay in the area for a little longer.

“I’m sick as a dog, so I’m going to go home and go to bed,” Pecora said. “I’m glad I don’t have to go back to Connecticut. I still have the house here five minutes away.”

With the emotional game behind them, it once again became about the current situation at hand as both coaches, sporting solid identical records to wrap non-conference play, look to what lies ahead in their respective conferences. Each team starts league play on Monday at home, with Quinnipiac hosting Marist and Hofstra home for Campbell.

“We’re becoming a better shooting team, but we were playing without Jaden Zimmerman, and he’s our leading scorer,” Pecora said. “We’re going to get him back in the flow, hopefully, by mid-January, and then we’ll be back to full strength. The minutes that the guys are getting coming off the bench, with [Zimmerman] out, will make us a better team as the year goes on. We’re 9-4 [in the] non-conference, so now it’s time to get serious and handle conference play in the MAAC.”

“I believe this is my best non-conference record since I took over but it doesn’t really mean anything,” Claxton said. “I think it prepared us the right way to go into conference play and now we’ve got to take care of business [with that too].”