Hofstra’s quarter-century dancing drought since the Jay Wright era has finally ended.

The Pride will play in the NCAA Tournament in men’s basketball for the first time since making back-to-back appearances under Wright in 2000-01 with a 75-69 victory Tuesday night over Monmouth at CareFirst Arena in Washington to capture the automatic bid out of the Coastal Athletic Association.

Hofstra (24-10) also qualified for the Big Dance in 2020 under Joe Mihalich — with current head coach Speedy Claxton serving as an assistant — but the tournament was canceled that March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This moment is so surreal and means so much to our university,” Claxton said after the game. “This is a moment they’re going to share for a lifetime.

“I told them on the court that I won a championship at every level: high school, collegiate and professional [with the Spurs]. My collegiate championship meant the most to me.”

The former Pride star and seven-year NBA player has been the head coach at his alma mater since replacing Mihalich in 2021.

“I won [a conference championship] as a player [in 2000], won it as an assistant coach [in 2020] and now I won it as a head coach.

“And that is legendary … hopefully they’ll build a statue for me at some point.”

Freshman guard Preston Edmead — who beat the overtime buzzer Monday night with a banked 3-pointer to knock out Towson in the semifinals — scored 26 points for Hofstra, including a 4-point play midway through the first half.

“It means so much. Being a kid from Long Island, this program is based on Long Island, it means everything,” said Edmead, who hails from Deer Park. “I wouldn’t want to win with anyone besides this team. I love them.”

Kavion McClain led Monmouth (19-15) with 19 points. The Hawks have not reached the NCAAs since 2006, and never in head coach King Rice’s 15 seasons on the bench.

Cruz Davis, the CAA Player of the Year, only scored three points in 12 minutes amid foul trouble in the first half. But Edmead finished with 16 and Biggie Patterson added six off the bench as Hofstra carried a 35–32 lead into intermission.

McClain, Monmouth’s leading scorer, also had a quiet first half with two points. But he netted 11 in the first four minutes of the second half to give Monmouth a 45-39 advantage.

Led by a couple of buckets by Davis, Hofstra responded with a 12-2 spurt to go back up by four. One free throw by Edmead extended the lead to seven with under eight minutes to play, and his 3-point bucket with under four minutes left pushed the margin to six.

A lefty runner by Davis made it a 66-62 game with 1:32 to go.

Justin Ray buried a huge trey to pull the Hawks within one 19 seconds later, but Hofstra senior guard German Plotnikov responded with another 3-pointer for a four-point Pride lead with 60 seconds on the clock.

“Nothing’s gonna stop us [this year],” Claxton said, referring to the 2020 COVID cancellation. “It was great winning that year, but we didn’t actually get to compete in the tournament.

“I’m hoping everything goes to plan, we get to Selection Sunday and see who we are playing and get the full experience of everything it has to offer.”