PACE HOLDS ON TO WIN
ANOTHER OVERTIME THRILLER BEATING
SAINT ANSLEM 85-81
NEW YORK, NY- The Pace University men's basketball team
doesn't like only playing 40 minutes of basketball on game day.
Recently the Setters have preferred to play an extra 5 minutes of
basketball to determine a winner. The Setters pulled out their
second consecutive overtime thriller on Tuesday night beating Saint
Anselm College, 85-81, for a huge Northeast-10 Conference victory
at the Civic Center Gymnasium.
The win improves the Setters to 9-14 on the season, and 7-11 in the NE-10 Conference. The loss will drop the Hawks to 13-10 overall, and 8-10 in conference play. Pace finished the year winning both games that were played in the Civic Center Gymnasium at Pace's NYC Campus.
Pace came out on fire early, in front of an energetic Civic Center crowd, starting the game on a 20-9 spurt. The Setters used three consecutive three-pointers in the run, which was capped off by a Ryan Woods (Staten Island, NY/Saint Peters) three, which put the Setters up by 11 with 10:50 left in the first half. Saint Anselm responded with a 15-5 run of their own over the next four minutes to cut the lead to one at 25-24, with 6:29 left in the half. The two teams would go on to trade baskets the rest of the half as play started to even out in the game. Pace wound up taking a one point lead going into the half with a score of 36-35. Both teams had very even numbers at the break with Pace shooting 45 percent from the field, while Saint Anselm shot 42 percent. Pace did hold a slim advantage in points in the paint outscoring Saint Anselm 16-10.
The Setters started the second half very similar to how they started the first as they went on a quick 9-0 run to open second half play. Randy Wilson (Peekskill, NY/Peekskill) played a big part in the run with a key three-point play, and he pulled down three rebounds. Pace was still holding on to a double-digit lead after two free-throws by Maurice Douglas (Waldorf, MD/So. Maryland Christian) made the score 57-46 with 11:16 left in the game. This is the point in the game where Saint Anselm started to make their run to get back into it. The Hawks went on a 21-10 run over the next nine minutes as they would eventually tie the game at 67-67 with two minutes left in regulation. With Pace down by three with 1:14 left in the second half Adrian Mills (Woodbridge, VA/Paul VI), and Carlos Howard (Fort Washington, MD/Gonzaga) each stepped up to hit huge baskets to help give the Setters a two point lead with 15 seconds left. However, Saint Anselm ran an inbounds play to perfection with three seconds left converting a wide open layup to force overtime.
The two teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of overtime to make the score 81-81 with 1:57 left. Pace then used a combination of solid defense, and clutch free-throw shooting to go up by three with 12 seconds left. Saint Anselm would go on to miss a layup on their next possession as Pace would grab the rebound, and hold on to win by four.
Pace finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field and 36 percent from three-point land. Saint Anselm shot 40 percent for the game, and only 32 percent from beyond-the-arc. Pace was led by Mills who scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Wilson had a solid effort in the paint for Pace as he finished with a double-double scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Pace is back in action on Saturday, February 14 as they host NE-10 rival Merrimack College. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
