Pace Basketball Teams Defeat Saint Rose

The following announcements are from the Pace University Department of Athletics. Share your sports results and photos by emailing pleasantville@patch.com or uploading them directly to this article.

Men

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.- Senior Keon Williams (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack/Iona College)tallied 23 points along with nine rebounds as the Setters held off the Saint Rose Golden Knights 64-59 in Northeast-10 Conference action. The Setters improve to 4-3 overall and 2-3 in the NE-10, while Saint Rose drops their first game of the season and stand at 5-1 and 3-1 in conference play.

The Setters got off to a strong start to the game as they led most of the opening half. They took their largest lead at 24-15 with 5:40 to play on a Williams lay-up. The Golden Knights answered as they closed their half on a 12-4 run, capped off by a Chris Dorgler triple at the buzzer as Pace led by a point at 28-27 at the break.

Saint Rose chipped away at the Setter lead early in the second half as they jumped out to a 40-34 lead with 13:38 left in the game. Pace quickly rallied to tie the game at 40 on back-to-back possessions on trifectas by Jaylen Mann (Youngstown, OH/Liberty) and Salvatore Vitello(Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan). The game went back and forth the rest of the way and featured six ties and three lead changes over the final 13 minutes.

The Setters broke through late in the game as Denzel Primus-Devonish (Riverdale, MD/St. John's College) went 2-for-2 at the line with 1:40 left in the contest to put Pace up 58-56. Saint Rose took a one-points lead on a three-pointer with 1:01 to play but the Setters came right back as Primus-Devonish put the Setters up for good with a lay-up with 38 seconds left in the game. The Golden Knights had a chance to retake the lead but missed on a lay-up with 24 seconds on the clock. Pace missed on the front end of the 1-and-1 but Saint Rose tipped the ball out of bounds. The Setters took advantage as Williams scored off the in-bounds pass from Vitello to give Pace a 62-59 lead. The Golden Knights failed to hit a triple on their next possession and Williams sealed the game with a pair of free throws with 5.1 seconds to play to give the Setters the win.

For the Setters, Williams shot 7-for-9 from the line for the game, while Jonathan Merceus(Union, NJ/Union) posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Primus-Devonish finished with 11 points, four rebounds and a game-high five steals, while Vitello had a solid game with eight points and four assists.

The Setters return to action on Tuesday, December 4, as they will travel to Garden City, NY for an NE-10 game against the Adelphi University Panthers at 7:30 pm.  

Women

Pleasantville, N.Y.- Senior Brittany Shields (Cold Spring, NY / Haldane) scored her third double-double of the season as she helped lead the Setters past the Golden Knights of Saint Rose College, 62-50.  The Setters advance to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference while the Golden Knights drop to 2-4 overall and 0-4 in NE-10 play.

The Setters went on a 7-0 run to start the game, all points scored by forward Brianna Harris (Brentwood, NY / Mary Louis Academy). The Golden Knights were able to chip away to come within two points at 8:46, but unable to hold it as their deficit continued to grow thereafter. The Setters went on an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to go up by as many as 13 points during that time.  A layup and triple in the last minute by Jessica Scannell (Cork, Ireland / St. Vincents) allowed the Setters to go into halftime up 17 points, 34-17. 

The Golden Knights shot 31.8% from the field and 16.7% from three point range while the Setters hit 42.4% from the field and 50% from the outside. 

Pace opened up the second half of the game on a layup from Yuni Sher (Poughkeepsie, NY / Long Island Lutheran) that gave the Setters their largest lead of the game. They were able to hold a healthy lead all throughout the second, with the point margin greater than ten up until the final 21 seconds of the game.  The Golden Knights came within nine points on two foul shots from Gabie Polce but a free throw and layup from Scannell solidified the win for the Setters, 62-50. 

Pace scored six more points in the paint than St. Rose (32-26), 12 more points off of turnovers (23-11) and eight more points on second-chance attempts (14-6).

Nicole Bini led the Golden Knights with 12 points, two assists and two rebounds.  Maria Sanchez led the team in rebounds with 12, also contributing four points, while Jessica Walton finished with nine rebounds and eight points.

Shields led the Setters with 15 rebounds, 12 points, four assists and three steals.  Harris and Scannellboth contributed 13 points, while Scannell grabbed two steals.  Allison Cleary (New Windsor, NY / Cornwall Central) added 12 points and two assists while Margo Hackett (Pawling, NY / Pawling) finished with six points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

The Setters will travel to Adelphi University on Tuesday, December 4 to take on the Panthers at 5:30 p.m.