Box Score
PACE GIVES 16TH RANKED BENTLEY
ALL IT CAN HANDLE BUT FALLS SHORT IN OVERTIME, 85-77
WALTHAM, MA- The Pace University men's basketball team came up
just short in upsetting the 16th ranked team in the
nation losing 85-77 to the Bentley University Falcons at the Dana
Center on Saturday night.
The loss drops Pace to 9-17 overall, and 7-14 in the
Northeast-10 Conference. The win improves Bentley to 24-4 on the
season, and 18-3 in conference play. The win also clinched the
third straight NE-10 regular season championship for Bentley.
Pace got off to a great start in front of a hostile crowd of
2,160 in a packed Dana Center. The Setters started the game on an
18-12 run to give the Setters a six point lead with 11:41 left in
the first half. Ryan Woods (Staten Island, NY/St. Peters Boys) (Staten Island, NY/Saint
Peters) came up huge in the run scoring the last seven
points in the run which included two huge back-to-back
three-pointers. Pace continued to play well late in the first half,
and after an Adrian Mills (Woodbridge, VA/Paul VI) (Woodbridge, VA/Paul VI)
three-pointer the Setters took a nine point lead with 5:55 left in
the half. Bentley responded in the last five minutes of the first
half by outscoring the Setters 8-2 in that stretch to cut the Pace
lead down to three going into the half. Pace shot 37 percent in the
first half, while Bentley shot 35 percent from the field in the
half. Pace forced Bentley into nine turnovers in the first half,
and this resulted to seven points off turnovers for the Setters in
half.
The Setters continued to hold a lead over the Falcons with the
score being 44-38, after a Woods jumper, with 11:37 left in the
game. Bentley then went on a 27-16 run over the next eight minutes
to take a 65-60 lead with 3:44 left in the second half. Pace found
itself down by only two with 40 seconds left after two clutch
Wesley Dunning (Laurel, MD/Gonzaga High School) (Laurel, MD/Gonzaga) free-throws.
After Bentley went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line at the other end
Pace was down by three with 35 seconds left. Laurence
McGhee (Linden, NJ/Linden) stepped up and hit a huge
three-pointer with 19 seconds left in the game to tie the score at
69-69. Bentley missed a layup with four seconds left, and Pace went
on to force overtime in Waltham.
McGhee continued his clutch shooting as he nailed another
three-pointer to tie the game at 72-72 with 3:55 left in overtime.
However, Bentley went on to score the next ten points in the game
over the next two minutes to stretch the lead to 10 with 1:31 left.
Pace got to within five but Bentley hit their free-throws down the
stretch as the Falcons went on to win by eight.
Pace shot 38 percent for the game, while Bentley shot 42 percent
from the field. Pace finished the game shooting 12-of-29(41%) from
three-point land in the loss. Pace was outrebounded in the game
46-38.
Pace was led by McGhee who had a team-high 18 points on 6-of-17
shooting. McGhee also had a team-high eight rebounds, and a
team-high five assists. Mills also had a solid game for Pace as he
finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, and two assists.
Pace is back in action on Monday, February 23 as they travel to
Saint Michael's College. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
