HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. ? Towson had revenge on its mind for an earlier season loss to Hofstra and almost got it but the Pride rallied to turn back the Tigers 71-68 in a Colonial Athletic Association contest Saturday afternoon.

The win gave the Pride a sweep over the Tigers for the 2008-09 season. Hofstra improved to 15-8 overall and 7-6 in the league while the Tigers slipped to 8-17 and 3-10.

“Free throw shooting has been killing us lately,” said Tigers' coach Pat Kennedy as he subtracted the makes from the attempts to see eight misses (11 of 19) at the charity stripe. “You got to make them and you've got to get the loose balls.”

The Tigers' pressure defense bothered the Pride for much of the first half. Hofstra went almost 10 minutes without a field goal allowing the Tigers to build their largest lead of the game,  12 points (33-21) at the 4:41 mark. But the Pride then turned the tables on Towson, holding the Tigers to just two points for the rest of the period while chipping away at the deficit. Thanks to some sharp shooting at the free line where Hofstra was 14 of 19 in the first period, and eventually 24 of 32 for the game, the Pride closed with an 8-0 run as Towson held a 35-31 lead at the break.

Only two players scored field goals for Hofstra in the opening 20 minutes. Charles Jenkins led the way 16 points. He would finish with a game high 24 points after spending most of the second half on the bench with four fouls.

The Tigers struggled to hold the lead in the second half. Nathaniel Lester's three-pointer from the deep corner at the 8:41 mark of the second period gave Hofstra its first lead of the game since the Pride scored the first points of the contest to ahead 2-0.. With Jenkins on the bench, Lester picked up the slack, scoring 19 of his 21 points in the second half. He scored 14 of Hofstra's last 21 points.

The Tigers regained the lead once again on a Junior Hairston three-pointer, 56-55 but Lester's put back promptly returned the advantage to the Pride. That was the end of the lead changes. There were two ties the rest of the way. Hofstra's biggest lead of the game was five (66-61).

Hairston's trey knotted the score at 68-68 with 1:07 remaining. Greg Washington's jumper from the left elbow put Hofstra back on top 70-68 with 30 seconds remaining. Towson then worked the clock with Josh Thornton attempting a long jumper that was short with two seconds left. A foul put Lester on the line with two-tenths of a second remaining. He made one of free throws to end the scoring.

Hairston led Towson with 23 points and eight rebounds. Thornton added 13 off the bench.

The Tigers are back in action again this Wednesday night when they host Georgia State at 7:00 p.m. in the Towson Center..