PACE GIVES
13TH RANKED STONEHILL ALL IT CAN HANDLE;
COMES UP JUST SHORT IN UPSET BID 59-56
PLEASANTVILLE, NY- The Pace University men's basketball
team came up just short in a Northeast-10 Conference thriller
against the Skyhawks of Stonehill College 59-56. The Setters will
fall to 6-10 on the season with a 4-7 record in the Northeast-10
Conference, while Stonehill College will improve to 15-2 on the
season with a 10-2 mark in the NE-10. The men fall to 4-6 at home
this season.
The first 15 minutes of the first half was an energetic, back-and-forth defensive battle that saw no team take a lead bigger than six. Both teams dug in on the defensive end, and had trouble establishing their rhythms on the offensive end. A layup by Adrian Mills (Woodbridge, VA/Paul VI) at the 6:10 mark in the first half put Pace up by one at 19-18. Stonehill then went on a 15-2 run to end the half. The Skyhawks took advantage of the Setters poor shooting towards the end of the half to take a 33-21 lead going into the locker room. Pace shot 33 percent from the field in the first half, while Stonehill shot 55 percent. Stonehill also held the advantage of points in the paint in the first half 18-10.
Pace came roaring out of the locker rooms to start the second half as they engineered a 17-5 run of their own to tie the game at 38-38, with 13:02 left in the game. The run featured five different Setters scoring a basket including a driving Laurence McGhee (Linden, NJ/Linden) layup to tie the score at 38. Pace then went on to build the lead all the way up to 10 point with another impressive 13-3 run. The hot shooting of Ryan Woods (Staten Island, NY/Saint Peters) fueled the Setter run as he scored nine of the 13 points in the run to make the score 51-41 with 9:14 left in the game. Pace's lead dwindled all the way down to two at 56-54 with 47 seconds left. A three point play by Stonehill's Randall Stallworth with 38 seconds left gave Stonehill a one point lead at 57-56. Pace got a good look on its next possession with Adrian Mills missing a short jumper that bounced off a Stonehill player out-of-bounds to give Pace one more chance. Pace then turned it over with a bad pass which led to a Stonehill layup with nine seconds left to give the Skyhawks a three point lead. Justin Alston (Bronx, NY/Saint Raymond) got off a three-point attempt at the buzzer that went long to send Pace to a heartbreaking three point loss.
Pace was led by Ryan Woods who scored a game-high 17 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range. The Setters got a good effort from Adrian Mills as well as he finished the game with 12 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Pace dominated in points off turnovers 20-7, and also had more second chance point as well with a 13-6 total.
The men will get back on the court on Saturday January 24 as they hit the road to play Southern New Hampshire University. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
