NEW YORK -- Matt Brady can be happy that he'll be headed back to Poughkeepsie with at least one victory from this weekend.

Yes, the Red Foxes came away with 73-67 victory over Hofstra Saturday afternoon, but the Marist coach was really just happy to have his team here at Madison Square Garden for the annual Aeropostale Holiday Festival.

"Our basketball program and our kids were thrilled to be at the Garden," he said. "We were happy to come out of here with a win, especially against a New York area team like Hofstra. This is an awesome atmosphere for us to play in."

Louie McCroskey was the high-scorer for Marist with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor, but the senior guard's shooting from long range was even more impressive in hitting three of his four three-point attempts.

"I think [McCroskey] is just scratching the service of how good he can be," Brady added.

"Today we just stayed positive," McCroskey said. "We have been through this before so this is just a sign of maturity for us."

Freshman guard Charles Jenkins led the way for the Pride, pouring in a game-high 21 points on 6-of-15 shooting (3-of-9 from three) in addition to collecting five rebounds and three assists. Nathaniel Lester, meanwhile, was the other double-digit scorer for Tom Pecora's ball club, contributing 17 points and 11 rebounds despite playing with four fouls.

"I feel for them," Pecora said afterward about his young, freshmen-filled team with no timetable set for senior and leading scorer Antoine Agudio's return from injury. "We talk all the time about their legacy. I don't want their legacy to be that their freshmen year wasn't very good because they are talented enough to make it happen."

Agudio hurt his ankle in practice on Wednesday and did not play in last night's blowout loss to Virginia Tech, so it wasn't a surprise to not see him in today's loss to the Red Foxes, but with his absence quickly affecting Pecora's team, the Hofstra coach knows he needs his players to stay mentally strong.

"The thing is," he said, "you can't let losing get to you but you can't be satisfied with effort. I told the guys that if you are coaching effort, you are not going to win in this league. I want to be coaching basketball."

With any luck and some better play from his freshmen, Pecora may actually get that opportunity by the end of this season.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- With 30 seconds left, it looks like Marist will be taking this game as Hofstra still trails, 69-64.

Nathaniel Lester just missed a critical free throw and that's going to cost the Pride a chance at making a late comeback.

Final score: Marist 73, Hofstra 67.

We'll get some post-game notes and quotes once both coaches address the media following this one.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- We're under five minutes here at Madison Square Garden, and Marist leads Hofstra, 62-54, and the Pride need to make a run right now if Tom Pecora hopes to head back to Long Island with at least one win.

It's not looking that way with Louie McCroskey now pacing the Red Foxes with 18 points and seven rebounds. Jay Gavin has 12 points and four boards, while Nathaniel Lester and Charles Jenkins have both tallied 16 points for Hofstra.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- I'll tell you, after watching some of the big-time powers in the country over the first two months of the season, it's sure hard to stay engaged by two struggling offenses that Marist and Hofstra have put on the floor.

Jay Gavin thankfully just hit a three from the right corner to put Marist up, 53-48, with nine minutes remaining, and it looks like Matt Brady's team could be leaving the city with at least one win to build off.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Louie McCroskey, gotta love that name.

The 6-foot-5 senior from the Bronx is leading all scorers with 15 points, and Nathaniel Lester has tallied 14 so far for Hofstra.

With 12 minutes left in the second half, it's a close game again, with Marist leading Hofstra by one, 47-46

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- We're at halftime here at Madison Square Garden for the first of two games for the Aeropostale Holiday Festival.

Right now Marist holds a 37-28 lead on Hofstra, and Matt Brady's team has got it done with Louie McCroskey's 12 points. Spongy Benjamin has added seven (on 3-of-4 shooting) and five rebounds for the Red Foxes.

For Hofstra, Charles Jenkins is leading the way with 10 points, and Lester Nathaniel has dropped in seven to go along with a team-high rebounds in 15 minutes of action.

I've meant to mention it earlier, but for some reason it's slipped my mind that Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe is here, though I'm not sure why. Obviously he's getting to catch up with his good 'ole NYC sportswriter buddies in Lenn Robbins of the New York Post and Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News, but I'm assuming it's to see the Giants-Patriots game later tonight as well as our second game of the day featuring ACC rep Virginia Tech and hometown favorite St. John's.

Hofstra and Marist are about to hit the floor again for the second half, so we'll lift our eyes up from the screen and take a look at the court now.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Back to posting...up....it's 33-25 in favor of Marist with 2:33 left in the first half, and the crowd inside the Garden looks like it should be for a high school basketball game, not a Division I affair between two local teams.

But on a Saturday afternoon, I certainly wouldn't be thinking of spending my day at MSG to watch two teams that will probably both be missing the postseason this year.

That's not to say they haven't been good in the past. Marist, in fact, had quite a team last season with Jared Jordan, and Hofstra has had its years, particularly with former coach Jay Wright (now at Villanova). But neither of these teams have shown me anything to believe that they can beat the best in their respective conferences.

For Marist, it's Siena and Rider in the MAAC. For Hofstra, it's George Mason and VCU in the CAA. So my apologies Marist and Hofstra fans, but those teams are just a tad bit more experience and talented than the teams facing one another right now on the floor.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Here's a little update five minutes into this one: Marist 5, Hofstra 2.

The Red Foxes don't have a lot of size, something that St. John's was able to expose last night, but it doesn't matter because Hofstra has little size itself. I haven't happened to see 6-foot-10 freshman Greg Washington on the floor, and it's unsure if he'll see any time today.

Ryan Schneider just hit a three-pointer for Marist, but Hofstra is hanging tough right now even without leading scorer Antoine Agudio, who is out with that ankle injury (suffered this week) for the second game straight.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Welcome back to the The World's Most Famous Arena after last night's action between Virginia Tech, Hostra, Marist and St. John's.

Our first game today features the consolation game between Marist and Hofstra, both losers last night, albeit in very different ways.

The Pride never really gave Virginia Tech a game, struggling without senior standout Antoine Agudio (ankle) -- who currently ranks second in the country in scoring with 26.8 points per game -- and getting blown out by a 84-59 margin.

Meanwhile for the Red Foxes, Matt Brady's team really hung tough in last night's 62-59 defeat to St. John's. Marist, in fact, had won seven of their last eight games decided by four points or less until last night. Jay Gavin seemed to be the guy for Marist last night, along with senior guard Louie McCroskey, so we'll keep an eye on those two as they play their second game under these bright Big Apple lights, something that these guys don't get to do on an every week basis.

But with both of these mid-major teams being from outside the city here, it looks like we'll have some good 'ole New York state bragging rights on the line.

Prediction, you ask? Well, if Tom Pecora was actually going to play Agudio, I'd have my money on the Pride, but with Agudio not on the floor, I like Brady's Red Foxes after the way they battled all the way to the end with the Johnnies.

History doesn't, as Marist lost its last meeting with Hostra back on Nov. 18, 2003 in Poughkeepsie for the first round of the Preseason NIT.

We'll see if the result is different today. Here's the tip...

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- If there's one thing we know after the first game of tonight's Aeropostale Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, it's that Hofstra won't be repeating as championships.

That's because behind veterans Deron Washington and A.D. Vassallo, Virginia Tech dominated an Antoine Agudio-less Hofstra team that really could have used those 26.8 points that the senior had been averaging for the season.

But the nation's second leading scorer never even got to step onto the floor against the Hokies after injuring his ankle in practice on Wednesday.

"I was taking a jump shot and I just came down on my ankle the wrong way," the 6-foot-3 senior guard explained after the game. "It feels better but I am taking it day-to-day."

That was certainly a big surprise to me, who saw Agudio as one of the few reasons to go to the two-day holiday tournament just up the street from my desk at CSTV.

"It is a little different when you don't play against Antoine Agudio," Virginia Tech Seth Greenberg said in his post-game press conference. "He is such a good scorer. I thought we played good and played hard. Whoever we play tomorrow, we have to do better."

"Obviously without [him] we are a different team and we struggled to score," Hofstra coach Tom Pecora. "If we are going to play without Antoine for awhile, and we are not sure if that is the case and we will know tomorrow, we need to figure out a way to turn a negative to a positive."

For the way things looked tonight, that might be hard to do.

The game, in fact, never seemed to be in doubt for Virginia Tech, which led by as many as 30 points before leaving the building with an 84-59 victory.

"When you make shots, you look smart," Greenberg remarked on the game as a whole. "When you take the same shots and miss them, you are not that cerebral. We have lost five games and we could have easily won four or four [of them]. We are good enough to play anyone and also not good enough to lose to anyone."

That's because Greenberg has six freshman on his roster, and it's not like they're riding the pine. That's what college basketball, though, has come to these days, where teams are often starting two and sometimes three freshmen.

For Pecora, it's a similar scenario, as a young Hofstra team can only hope to get wiser and better quickly with Agudio sidelined.

"This is a learning experience for us," Pecora asserted. "They are a great bunch. They work very hard as a team in practice. I truly believe that at the end of the year we will be a good basketball team that nobody will want to play. I have to play the freshmen to get them seasoned by February to have a chance to win the conference."

And if the Pride was able to do that, it would certainly be quite a testament to Pecora, his coaching staff and ultimately his players.

Post-game Notes:

* Charles Jenkins led Hofstra with 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field to go along with four assists and four rebounds. Darren Townes was the other scorer in double figures for Tom Pecora's ball club, tallying 12 after making six of his 10 attempts from the floor.

* Virginia Tech finished the game shooting 56.3 percent from the field and 37.5 from three-point range. Hofstra, meanwhile, couldn't buy a bucket from downtown, missing all five of its attempts in the second half and going just 1-for-10 on the night. The Pride registered a 34.3 shooting percentage from the floor.

* Hofstra surprisingly did outrebound the Hokies by a 43-37 margin, which included 21 offensive rebounds, something that Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg wasn't happy about.

"Twenty-one offensive rebounds is probably a good place to start," he said. "That is probably the biggest flaw [from tonight's game]. We didn't guard the ball in the second half. We were reaching and slapping. We have to get better. In our conference, you have to play better to win. It is hard to win games now."

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Nothing really new here to report, but Virginia Tech has a 76-49 lead over Hofstra with less than five minutes remaining in the game. The Pride's short supply of fans are already hitting the exits here at Madison Square Garden, and our second game of the evening, which pits MAAC foe Marist against St. John's, should be coming up shortly.

Until then, A.D. Vassallo continues to make perimeter shots for Seth Greenberg's Hokies, and the lead has now grown to 30 at 79-49.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 08:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Well, our head hasn't hit the desk yet, but it soon could if Hofstra doesn't start making its shots. The Pride are still trailing by more than 20 points with roughly 10 minutes left in the second half, and it doesn't look like Tom Pecora's club is interested in making it hard on Virginia Tech tonight.

Hokies coach Seth Greenberg, at least, should be pleased with the way his team has dominated the glass and the paint so far in this game, and with the physical presence that VT displays down on the block, it continues to pose all sorts of problems for The Pride.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- In what's not much of a game already, Virginia Tech is maintaining a sizable lead on Hofstra with the scoreboard reading 56-32 at the 14-minute mark in the second half.

Hofstra hasn't put up much of a fight in these first few minutes after halftime, and the Hokies just continue to pour it on The Pride, who can't buy a bucket from the perimeter tonight. Antoine Agudio, in similar fashion, has not touched the floor tonight. The nation's second leading scorer, in fact, hasn't even moved from the bench, and I'm starting to wonder why. Hopefully we'll get an update from Pecora after the game, as I'm sure it will be one of the first questions that the Hofstra coach will be asked to address by the infamous NYC media that's gathered here tonight.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- We're three minutes and change away from halftime in our first game of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival here at Madison Square Garden, and it's Virginia Tech who holds a commanding 34-21 lead on CAA foe Hofstra.

For the Pride, though, this could be a good test in playing a team from the ACC, the conference that's been widely regarded as the best in the country for a long time.

On the court, Jeff Allen continues to be a presence for Seth Greenberg's team down low, and Hofstra coach Tom Pecora hasn't seemed to find an answer for stopping the 6-foot-7 freshman from Washington, D.C., who currently has 10 points to lead all scorers.

Malcolm Delaney, meanwhile, just stole the ball at mid court and took it in for an easy two that has the Hokies up, 38-21, with a little less than two minutes remaining. Make that nine points for Delaney.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Virginia Tech continues to roll here at Madison Square Garden in the first game of the Aeropostale Holiday Festival. Hofstra has hit a couple more shots from the perimeter, but the Hokies are continuing to prove to be too big inside for the Pride.

Malcolm Delaney is pacing VT right now at the seven-minute mark with -- by no coincidence -- seven points and it's the Hokies who have built a 15 and now 17-point lead with easy transition layups time after time down the floor.

To say Hostra plays any defense at all would be a complete lie. And my mother always told me that I was a bad liar. She's right, so I won't try...back to the game in a couple minutes.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Greetings once again from Madison Square Garden, my second home these days with the college football season winding down and the college basketball season in full swing as conference play begins next week, where we get to watch two games for the price of one (not really actually).

But tonight we do have the honor of watching two mediocre games -- and yes, I know I've been spoiled lately with games like Texas-UCLA, Memphis-USC and Pitt-Duke -- in the annual Aeropostale Holiday Festival. I'm not complaining, though, because basketball is still basketball, and if there's a game to watch, I'm going to watch it.

Anyway, our first game of the night features ACC rep Virginia Tech, who reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year, taking on Hofstra for a chance to advance to tomorrow night's championship game.

The Hokies are coming off a heartbreaking 77-75 loss to Wake Forest last Sunday night in Winston-Salem, N.C. A.D. Vassallo, however, was one of the brighter spots for Seth Greenberg's team, tallying his first double-double of the season with 19 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Deron Washington also recorded a double-double -- his second of the season -- in the loss with 13 points and 14 boards. And though Virginia Tech had to travel the furthest of any of the other teams (Marist vs. hometown favorite St. John's follows in our second game tonight) in the two-day tournament, the Hokies have plenty of experience playing under this roof. Last season, VT defeated Seton Hall, 80-61, in the Aeropostale Classic and also split a pair of games in Big East competition. And if there's one team I'm putting my money on (not that I bet anyway), it would be the Hokies.

Hofstra, on the other hand, is looking to defend its 2006 Holiday Festival championship after upending Saint Joseph's and St. John's on back-to-back nights last year. That's what the Pride will have to do again here if it hopes to defend its title, and fortunately for them, they have one of the country's best scorers in Antoine Agudio to do it with. The senior guard, in fact, is averaging 26.8 points per game, which only trails Niagara's Charron Fisher at 27.3 ppg. Agudio, though, does lead the country in minutes (39.8 mpg) and has 305 career three-pointers, so we could be seeing a lot of shots get launched from beyond the arc tonight. And if he starts slow, don't be surprised. Agudio, after all, averages 17.2 points in the second halves of games this season, almost as much as what VCU's Eric Mayor, the second leading scorer in the CAA, tallies per game (18.3). Don't forget about freshman guard Charles Jenkins, too, who has registered double-digit points in seven straight games after dropping in 14 against Rhode Island last Saturday. One other thing to note: The Pride are 9-2 in their last 11 games at The World's Famous Arena, including 7-1 all-time in the annual Holiday Festival.

Let's get ready for the tip.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)