NEW HAVEN, Conn.- The Pace men's basketball team fell to the Owls of Southern Connecticut 78-64 in Northeast-10 Conference action. The Setters fall to 9-13 overall and 6-12 in the NE-10, while the Owls improve to 16-6 and 13-5 in conference play.

The Owls opened the game with five triples as they jumped out to a 15-8 lead in the opening seven minutes of play. The Setters rallied to close to within 22-20 on a bucket by Jonathan Merceus (Union, NJ/Union) (Union, NJ/Union) at the 7:08 mark. Southern Connecticut pushed out to a 29-20 lead by the Setters ripped off the next nine points to pull even at 29. The Owls held off the Setters charge in the final two minutes as they took a 36-33 lead into halftime.

Ahmad George (Bowie, MD/Archbishop Carroll) (Bowie, MD/Archbishop Carroll) connected on a trifecta to open the second half to knot the game at 36. The teams traded points but the Owls stretched their lead to 48-40 with 15:21 left in the game.

Denzel Primus-Devonish (Riverdale, MD/St. John's College) (Riverdale, MD/St. John's College) converted a key three-point play pulled the Setters to within three points at 52-49 with 12:19 remaining in the game. The Setters got as close as one point at 59-58 on a Kai Smith (Upper Marlboro, MD/St. Mary's Ryken) (Upper Marlboro, MD/St. Mary's Ryken) triple with 7:34 left in the game. The Owls answered as they bounced out to a 72-62 lead with 2:11 remaining in the game as they hit free throws down the stretch to take the win.

For the Setters, Merceus led the way with 24 points and six rebounds, while Keon Williams (Hackensack, NJ/Hackensack/Iona College) finished with 14 points and four boards.

The Setters travel to Albany, NY for an NE-10 clash against the College of Saint Rose on Saturday, February 16 at 3:30 pm.