PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y.- Senior Keon Williams (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack/Iona College) (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) (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) (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.
