PACE GETS OVERMATCHED AS THEY FALL TO MERRIMACK 90-62
NORTH ANDOVER, MA- The Pace University men's basketball team dropped a tough 90-62 Northeast-10 Conference matchup against the Warriors of Merrimack College on Sunday evening at the Volpe Gymnasium.
The loss will drop the Setters to 6-12 overall and 4-9 in the Northeast-10. The win improves Merrimack College to 15-4 overall and 11-3 in conference play. Pace is now 2-5 on the road this season.
Pace struggled to find their offense in the early going missing 11 of their first 13 shots from the field. Merrimack used the Setters cold shooting to their advantage as they took a 20-7 lead with 10:05 left in the half. Pace started to find their rhythm late in the first half as Ryan Woods (Staten Island, NY/Saint Peter's) hit a jumper that cut the lead to 10 at 33-23, with 3:08 left in the first half. Pace would wind up going into the locker room trailing by 15 at 40-25, thanks to a 5-0 Merrimack run to close the half. Pace struggled shooting in the first half as the Setters only shot 27 percent, while the Warriors shot 50 percent from the field. The Warriors also had a big edge in three-point shooting as they made six three pointers in the half, while Pace only made two.
The second half didn't start much better for Pace as Merrimack came out on an 11-4 run to make the score 51-29, with 17:06 left in the game. Pace still had one more run in them as they got the Warrior lead down to 15 after two Adrian Mills (Woodbridge, VA/Paul VI) free-throws with just over 11 minutes remaining. The Setters momentum would be short lived as Merrimack went on a back-breaking 15-6 run of their own to extend the lead to 24 at 77-53, with 6:33 left. Pace had no answers for the Warriors offense all day as the Setters defense let up 90 points for only the second time this season. A big reason why Pace had trouble keeping up with the Warriors offensively was because of the rebounding differential. Pace was out-rebounded in the game 49-35. Pace finished the game shooting 34 percent from the field, and only 15 percent (2-13) from three-point land.
Pace was led by Woods who finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, and team-high six rebounds. Pace also received a good game from Mills who had 11 points, five rebounds and a team-high three assists.
Pace will be back on the hardwood on Wednesday, January 28 as they will host Southern Connecticut State University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
