PLEASANTVILLE, NY – Senior Jonathan Merceus (Union, NJ/Union) (Union, NJ/Union) scored his 1,000th career point and the Pace University men's basketball team shot 50.0% in the first half, but the Setters were upended by the Saint Anselm Hawks 76-63 in a Northeast-10 Conference match.

Merceus ended with a double-double behind 19 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Jamaal James (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn College Academy) (Brooklyn, NY/Brooklyn College Academy) had 12 points. Fellow seniors Denzel Primus-Devonish (Riverdale, MD/St. John's College) (Riverdale, MD/St. John's College) and Kai Smith (Upper Marlboro, MD/St. Mary's Ryken) had 10 each.

Merceus started the game strong, scoring 12 of the Setters first 26 points. He netted the milestone bucket on a jumper from the left wing with 6:51 to go in the first half, to put Pace (3-13, 1-9 NE-10) up by four. As a team, the Setters fired well from the field, hitting 50% from the floor and making all seven of their free throw attempts to take a 39-36 lead into intermission.

In the second half, the two teams battled back and forth with four ties in the first nine minutes. After a layup by Primus-Devonish gave Pace a 52-50 lead with 11:01 remaining, Saint Anselm (11-5, 9-3 NE-10) scored eight points in a row to take the lead for good.

With his accomplishment, Merceus becomes the 34th player in Setters' history with 1,000 career points.

Pace next hosts NE-10 rival Franklin Pierce. The game is set for Wednesday, January 22 at 7:30 pm.