At Home, Pace Basketball Splits with St. Michael's

The following announcements were submitted by the Pace University Department of Athletics. To learn how to post your news on Patch, click here.

Men

PLESANTVILLE, NY- Keon Williams (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack/Iona College) scored 15 points and pulled down 10 boards as the men's basketball team defeated the Purple Knights of St. Michael's College 73-59 in Northeast-10 Conference action. The Setters improve to 7-5 overall, and 4-4 in conference play, while St. Michael's falls to 4-8 overall, and 1-7 conference play.

The Setters and the Purple Knights would trade the lead back and forth for most of the first half. Pace used a late 9-2 run capped off by a Denzel Primus-Devonish (Riverdale, MD/St. John's College) lay-up and two free throws to give the Setters a 31-22 lead as they held a 31-24 advantage at the break.

In the second half, the Setters continued their strong play as they would push their lead to 45-33 on David Eismeier (Burke, VA/Bishop O'Connell) three-pointer with 14:20 left. The Purple Knights rallied as they got as close as three-points at 47-44 with 9:41 remaining in the game. The Setters pulled ahead as Williams converted a three-point play and added another basket, whileJonathan Merceus (Union, NJ/Union) also had a three-point play to stretch the Pace lead to 10 points at 57-47.

Saint Michael's rallied as they closed to within five points at 58-52 with 5:40 left in the game. The Setters put the game out of reach with an 8-1 run as Merceus netted four points and Primus-Devonish added a lay-up to put the Setters back in front by double figures 66-53 with 3:22 on the clock as they held off the Purple Knights at bay the rest of the way.

Williams added three assists to his fourth double-double effort of the season, while Merceus added 17 points and nine rebounds. Primus-Devonish finished with 10 points, six assists, and three rebounds.

The Setters return to action on Saturday January 12 as they travel to Waltham, MA to take on the Falcons of Bentley University at 3:30 pm.

Women

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.- The Pace women's basketball team fell to the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College 60-44 in Northeast-10 Conference action. The Setters fall to 7-5 overall and 5-3 in the NE-10, while the Purple Knights improve to 3-9 and 1-7 in conference play.

The Purple Knights connected on a pair of triples in the first five minutes of play as they took a 10-2 lead. Saint Michael's pushed out to a nine point lead but the Setters used a 7-2 burst to slice the score down to four points following a Margo Hackett (Pawling, NY/Pawling) trifecta. The Purple Knights pulled ahead by 12 points as they took a 31-19 lead at halftime.

Saint Michael's added to their lead to start the second half as they took a 45-31 lead with 14:10 left in the game. The Setters ripped off the next seven points, which saw Jessica Scannell (Cork, Ireland/St. Vincent's/Iona College) connect on a triple in the rally, as Pace pulled to within seven points at 45-38 with 10:57 remaining in the game. The Purple Knights answered with a three-pointer and a put-back to go back up by 12 points as the Setters trailed by double-digits the rest of the way.

Brittany Shields (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane) netted 17 points and nine rebounds in the loss on 7-for-11 shooting from the field. Brianna Harris (Brentwood, NY/Mary Louis Academy) added seven points, six rebounds and three steals, while Scannell finished with six points, four rebounds and three assists. Allison Cleary (New Windsor, NY/Cornwall Central) grabbed seven rebounds for the Setters.

The Setters return to action on Saturday, January 12 when they will travel to Waltham, MA for a Northeast-10 Conference game against Bentley University at 1:30 pm.  

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