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  • Tyler Thomas Hits The Jumper In Overtime To Upset Top-Seeded Rutgers, 88-86

Tyler Thomas Hits The Jumper In Overtime To Upset Top-Seeded Rutgers, 88-86

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Basketball

Tyler Thomas' jumper with nine seconds left in overtime broke an 86-86 tie and gave Hofstra an 88-86 victory over top-seeded Rutgers in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament Tuesday night at Jersey Mike's Arena. Rutgers missed a potential game-tying shot as time wound down to give the Pride its first postseason tournament victory since 2006.

Thomas finished with a game-high 25 points as Hofstra moved to 25-9 on the season. The Pride will advance to the NIT second round to play the winner of the Cincinnati/Virginia Tech game on either Saturday or Sunday. Rutgers ends the season with a record of 19-15.

The Scarlet Knights jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first six minutes and led for the majority of the first half. The Pride would battle back and tied the score at 30 with 4:07 to go on a Thomas three-pointer. Rutgers would close the half on a 10-5 run to lead 40-35 at intermission.

Rutgers would build an eight-point lead, 46-38, early in the second half on Derek Simpson's putback. The Pride once again battled back and took its first lead of the game, 54-53, with 12:28 remaining in the second half on a three-pointer from Aaron Estrada. The Scarlet Knights retook the lead and led by six, 64-58, with 6:51 to play. The Pride would close to within one, 70-69, with 1:30 to play on a Thomas jumper. Rutgers would go up by five with 30 seconds remaining but Thomas hit a three with 24 seconds left and Nelson Boachie-Yiadom tied the score with a second chance lay-up with two seconds to go to force overtime.

In the extra session, Hofstra led by four, 86-82, after a Darlinstone Dubar three-pointer with 1:28 to go. However, Simpson would score four straight points for Rutgers to tie the game with 32 seconds remaining. Thomas would sink his 11th field goal of the game with nine seconds on the clock and send Hofstra to the second round. 

In addition to Thomas, Hofstra received 17 points from Dubar, 13 from Estrada, 12 from Jaquan Carlos, and a season-high 10 from Boachie-Yiadom. Boachie Yiadom also tied for game-high honors with eight rebounds.

Cam Spencer led Rutgers with 22 points, while Simpson added 19. Spencer also added eight rebounds.