PACE OUTLASTS NEW
HAVEN 86-78
MILLS AND MCGHEE BOTH SCORE 20 IN WIN
PLEASTANTVILLE, NY- The Pace University men's basketball team got back to their conference schedule in style beating out the University of New Haven 86-78. Pace improves to 6-5 on the season and 4-2 in the NE-10, while the Chargers fall to 5-7 overall and 4-5 in conference play. Pace improves its home record to 4-2 with the win.
The Setters jumped on the Chargers early on the strength of their three-point shooting to take a 19-10 lead with 10:57 left in the half. Pace went 4-for-7 from three in the game-opening run which was capped off by a long Ryan Woods (Staten Island, NY/St. Peters Boys) three to put Pace up by nine. New Haven then went on a 19-13 run of their own to cut the lead down to three with 5:31 left in the half. New Haven rode their hot shooting in the half and wound up tying the score at 37 going into the locker room. Pace shot 42 percent for the half, while New Haven shot 44.5 percent in the first half and 50 percent from three. The key to Pace surviving the Chargers hot first half shooting was their care for the ball as the Setters only turned the ball over four times in the first half.
Pace came out hungry in the second half as they put some distance between themselves and the Chargers with a 19-7 run to make the score 56-44 with 10:29 left in the half. Adrian Mills (Woodbridge, VA/Paul VI) scored nine of the Setters 19 points to help fuel the Pace run. Pace pushed the lead all the way up to 15 points with 5:13 left in the game with most of the damage coming from the free-throw line. The Setters were very aggressive in the second half driving to the hole often, and that got them a lot of trips to the line as they went 22-for-27 (81.5%) from the line in the second half alone. Laurence McGhee (Linden, NJ/Linden) who is always aggressive with the basketball went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line in the second half, and finished tied for a team-high in points with 20. The Setters went on to hit some key free-throws down the stretch as well to hold off a late New Haven rally, and win the game by eight.
The Setters were led by Mills who tied a team-high with 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with four rebounds. Pace also got a solid game from freshman Delroy Daley (Bronx, NY/St. Raymond) as he worked hard inside all night for the Setters as he scored 10 points, and pulled down eight rebounds.
The men will be back in action Tuesday, January 6 at 7:30 p.m. at home as they will take on conference foe Assumption College.
