Sports

Tulane too much for Hofstra

Ricky Tarrant singlehandedly made Tulane look more like the Green Tsunami than the Green Wave during a 20-0 run to start the second half, and the sophomore guard turned a tie game into an 83-62 blowout against Hofstra yesterday in the opener of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational at Barclays Center.

“Ricky’s had some great moments in his career where he just explodes,” Tulane coach Ed Conroy said. “I knew after he hit the first one, it really got Ricky going and from there, you saw the smile on his face and knew he was going to explode.”

After going into the locker room tied at 30, Tulane (10-3) overwhelmed Hofstra thanks to the sharpshooting of Tarrant and aggressive defense. Tarrant opened up the second half by scoring 13 straight points for Green Wave thanks to three straight treys, two free throws and a layup, and finished with a game-high 28 points.

“It wasn’t necessarily adjustments at halftime, it was more getting back to what we do and what we planned on doing coming in,” Conroy said. “We got the ballhandling under control in the second half and were able to jump into some passing lanes, and that’s when we’re at our best.”

The 20-0 outburst was too much for the Pride (3-9) to overcome. Outside of the first 3:28 of the second half, the two teams were evenly matched.

“It’s a tough one,” Hofstra coach Mo Cassara said. “We had a defensive breakdown to start the second half and then we didn’t have the fortitude to fight through that and get the game back close.“You have to give a lot of credit to Tulane. Tarrant is a terrific player and obviously we struggled from there.”

Hofstra looked to be in control early, when the Pride jumped on Tulane to open up a seven-point lead in the first half after big man Moussa Kone pulled down an offensive rebound and scored a layup to give Hofstra a 25-18 lead.

“I’m really proud of the way our team came out today,” Cassara said. “I thought we really could have been up eight or 10 points at halftime. I thought we shared the ball, moved the ball, battled on defense.”

Hofstra guards Taran Buie and Stevie Mejia were outplayed by the Green Wave backcourt of Tarrant and Jordan Callahan. Buie and Mejia finished with 24 points on 8-of-36 shooting compared to the 43 combined points of Tarrant and Callahan.

“No question [we rushed shots],” Cassara said. “That’s something that we really have to work on. I thought we had a lot of really good opportunities by the basket that just didn’t go in.”

The seven-game losing streak is the longest for the Pride since it lost eight straight during the 2002-03 season. Hofstra’s last win came Nov. 18 against Marshall, before four key players were suspended following their arrest for burglary.

”[We need to] take a little vacation, take a couple of days off,” Cassara said. “Obviously we’re all frustrated, we all want to win.We have to find a way to gut out some wins.”