Hood opened up a comfortable 47-29 lead at the half, but the Tigers battled back and tied the game at 80 with 22 seconds left on a jumper from Warren Jefferson. Gutekunst gave the lead back to the Blazers with a layup with 15 seconds left and then with eight seconds remaining, blocked Alphonso Lee’s shot to secure the lead. Strayer then missed a deep 3 as time expired to give Hood its eighth home win in nine tries this season.
Provenzano scored 20 of the Blazers’ 35 points in the second half to help them end a brief two-game losing streak and get back over .500 at 11-10. He is also now just five points short of becoming Hood’s first-ever member of the 1,000-point club.
Dennis Tressler tied his career-high with six 3s for Hood to give him 18 points and Gutekunst ended with seven points, 10 boards and four blocks.
Jefferson led Strayer (5-11) with 26 points, a game-high 15 boards and six assists and Mike McIwain had 19.
After a back-and-forth beginning to the game, Hood closed the first half on a 24-8 run to take an 18-point lead at the break. David Wilson, who finished 11 points, started the run with a pair of free throws and Tressler knocked down four 3s during the eight-minute, one second span.
In the second half, however, it was a different story as Strayer came out on a 24-5 spurt to cut its deficit to 54-51 with 13:04 remaining.
Provenzano helped the Blazers regroup by scoring 10 of their 12 points to put them up 67-55. But again, the Tigers rallied and tied the game twice in the final 2:33—at 76 when McIwain hit a 3 and again at 80 on Jefferson’s jumper—only to fall short in their comeback bid.
The Tigers, who arrived 30 minutes late to force the tip-off back to 8 p.m., outrebounded Hood, 58-40, but went a dismal 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) from the free throw line. The Blazers weren’t much better, making 11-of-28 attempts (39.3 percent) from the stripe, but they hit 9-of-23 treys in the game and shot 50.0 percent (31-for-62) from the floor.
Hood gets back in action Saturday when it hosts Lincoln University at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.