Cruising in conference play

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Senior Trian Iliadis scored 19 points and Kent Bazemore added 16 to lead the Monarchs of ODU to a 69-61 CAA win over Hofstra Saturday afternoon and give head coach Blaine Taylor a very happy 54th bi1 rthday in front of 7,235 at the Constant Center. ODU is now atop the CAA with a 5-1 league mark and 10-8 overall.

Over 40 former basketball alumni were also on hand and honored at halftime, as well as the Lady

Monarch CAA Champion field hockey squad.

ODU's 6-9 Chris Cooper also scored in double figures with 13 points along with eight rebounds, as ODU outscored the Pride, 36-23 in the second half.

Hofstra led 38-33 at halftime as the CAA's leading scorer Mike Moore had 19  of his

game high 21 points. Hofstra led by as much as 11, 16-5 with 13:22 left in the half, but the Monarchs rallied to lead the game at 29-28 with 2:57 remaining on a jumper by Marquel Delancey.

In the second half Hofstra pushed the lead back to seven twice at 46-39 after a Nathaniel Lester basket with 16;47 and again with 15:20 left at 48-41 on two free throws by Stephen Nwaukoni.

ODU tied the game at 48-48 with 13:38 on a three-pointer by Iliadis.  The contest would be tied three more times, the last at 54 with 7:55 left on two free throws by Hofstra's Dwan McMillan.

ODU took the lead for good, 56-54 on a Iliadis basket with 7:35 left as ODU would

finished the game on a 15-7 run.

Kent Bazemore hit a three-pointer to give ODU a 59-54 lead and Nick Wright hit

a jumper in the lane for a 61-54 lead with 4:42 left in the game.

Bazemore finished with 16 points along with four assists, and three steals and was 7-14 from the floor.  Iliadis was 8-13 from the field and added three assists and

three steals. Freshman Dimitri Batten also had three steals and Nick Wright had two as the Monarchs came up with 13 for the game, including nine in the first half. The

Monarchs swatted seven shots led with Nick Wright leading with three.

The Monarchs defense forced the Pride into 20 turnovers and held Mike More to just

two points in the second half as he was 1-7 from the floor. ODU finished the game

shooting .463 (25-54) from the floor, while Hofstra was .358 (19-53). The Pride

outrebounded ODU, 37-32.

Besides Moore's 21 points, Nathaniel Lester scored 16 and David imes added six points and a game high 10 rebounds for Hofstra.

The Monarchs travel to Towson on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m.