PACE ENDS SEASON WITH 83-71 LOSS TO FIFTH SEEDED ASSUMPTION COLLEGE IN FIRST ROUND OF NE-10 TOURNAMENT

WORCESTER, MA- The Pace University men's basketball team fell in a first round Northeast-10 Tournament matchup to the Greyhounds of Assumption College, 83-71, on Saturday afternoon at the Laska Gymnasium.

With the loss the Setters record for the season will finish at 9-19 overall, and 7-16 in the NE-10. The win moves the Greyhounds to 19-9 overall, and 16-7 in conference play. The victory will also advance Assumption to the quarterfinals of the NE-10 Tournament.

The Greyhounds took advantage of a loud, and energetic, Laska Gym crowd as they jumped on the Setters for a quick 15-4 lead with 13:32 left in the first half. Assumption was also helped by Pace's cold shooting to start the game as the Setters missed 11 of their first 13 shots from the field. The Greyhounds continued to hold on to their 11 point lead for most of the first half as the score was now 30-19, with 5:51 left in the first half. Pace then made a little 6-2 run over the next two minutes to cut the lead down to seven. A Wesley Dunning (Laurel, MD/Gonzaga High School) (Laurel, MD/Gonzaga) layup capped off the run to make the score 32-25 with 3:25 left in the half. Assumption responded closing the half on a 7-2 run of their own to push the lead back up 12 at 39-27 going into halftime. Pace shot 33 percent from the field in the first half, while the Greyhound shot the ball at a 57 percent clip. A big reason the Setters stayed within striking distance going into the second half was the brilliant first half of Carlos Howard (Fort Washington, MD/Gonzaga College High) (Fort Washington, MD/Gonzaga). Howard finished the first half with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, and 2-of-4 from three-point range.

The Setters came out in the second half with much more energy and it showed as they started the half on a 9-3 run. Three different Setters scored in the run to make the score 42-36, with 14:37 left in the game. Pace continued to chip into the Greyhound lead as they got to within two after two Ryan Woods (Staten Island, NY/St. Peters Boys) (Staten Island, NY/ Saint Peter's) free-throws at make the score 50-48. Just as Pace was going to take their first lead of the game Assumption made another timely run to steal the Setter momentum. Assumption outscored Pace 15-5 in the next four minutes to push the lead back up to 12, with 6:46 left in the game. Pace was not ready to concede their season however as they had one more run in them to get back in it. The Setters cut the Greyhound lead down to six with a 2:37 left in the game after a Woods layup. After that bucket Pace simply ran out of gas the rest of the way as they couldn't complete the comeback attempt. Assumption hit their free-throws down the stretch as they went on to win by 12.

Pace shot 40 percent from the field in the game, while Assumption shot 52 percent. The key stat in the game was points in the paint as Assumption dominated Pace in this category to the tune of 40-28.

Woods led all Pace scorers with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field, and 4-of-8 from three. Senior Randy Wilson (Peekskill, NY/Peekskill) (Peekskill, NY/Peekskill) had one of his best games of the season in his last game of his Pace career finishing with 15 points, eight rebounds, and two assists in a losing effort.

Another important note on Randy Wilson (Peekskill, NY/Peekskill) is after today's performance he will finish his career ranked 11^th all-time at Pace University in career rebounds with 619.