GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Graduate student
Christian White (Rochester, NY/Aquinas Institute / Syracuse University) drained a fadeaway three at the buzzer to lift the Pace University men's basketball team to a 77-76 victory over Northeast-10 Conference rival Adelphi University Wednesday evening at Adelphi's Center for Recreation and Sport.
HOW IT ENDED
- The Setters never led in the second half of Wednesday's contest, but managed to tie the game late on two occasions.
- After an old-fashioned three-point play by sophomore
Ryan Peterson (Wethersfield, CT/St. Thomas More) tied the game at 74-74, Adelphi's Manny Suarez made a couple free throws to give the home team a 76-74 lead with 58 seconds left.
- White was unable to get the tying jumper to go, forcing Pace to need a stop.
- After using the entire shot clock, the Setters forced Adelphi into a miss and called timeout with just seven seconds left.
- Peterson dished it to White right in front of the Setter bench, where he dribbled right, let the ball fly, and sank it as the buzzer sounded for the walk-off win on the road.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
- Wednesday's matchup was highly competitive throughout, but the Panthers took control early with a 7-0 run out of the gate.
- White hit a three to end the Setters' drought, but the home team managed to make it a 14-3 game before Pace got on the board again.
- White hit another three to get Pace within eight, but Adelphi's Austin Beech made a layup to make it a 10-point game again.
- Peterson then hit a triple to pull within seven, and freshman
Vinny Dalessandro (Levittown, PA/Conwell-Egan Catholic) laid one in to make it a 16-11 game.
- On the next possession, Dalessandro got open at the top of the key, draining a three to make it a two-point game.
- Down two a few minutes later, freshman
Ray Montilus (Union, NJ/Pope John XXII) went hard to the basket, and found a way to put the ball through the net through contact, drawing the foul and finishing a three-point play to put the Setters on top for the first time, 19-18.
- Dalessandro followed with another three to help Pace take control of the game.
- The Setters led by as many as six, but the Panthers turned things around to take a 32-31 lead with 2:54 left in the half.
- This started a 7-0 run for the Panthers to give them a six-point lead, which they expanded up to eight at 41-33 heading into halftime.
HALFTIME LEADERS
- Dalessandro led the Setters with 13 points and six rebounds in the first half.
- White tallied 10 points with a pair of assists at the break.
- Adelphi's Conor McGuinness made four threes in the first 20 minutes, leading all scorers with points.
SECOND HALF
- Peterson set the tone quickly in the second half, driving hard to the hoop and laying it in with contact for another three-point play.
- Adelphi regained momentum to take a 50-40 after Suarez scored the Panthers' last nine points.
- The Setters later went on a five-point run to cut the deficit in half with 15:14 on the clock.
- Adelphi took a 62-55 lead before sophomore
Luke McLaughlin (Blauvelt, NY/Tappan Zee) made a baseline jumper, followed later by another long ball for White to make it a two-point game with 6:24 left to play.
- Later on, Suarez hit a three to make it a five-point Panther lead again, but two for senior
Austin Mofunanya (Englewood, NJ/Dwight Morrow / Lincoln College of NE) and yet another triple for White tied the game at 67-67 with 3:49 on the clock.
- Adelphi's Michael Coffey then drew a three-point play to once again give Adelphi the lead with 3:33 to go.
- Peterson then made a jumper to draw within one, but Beech drew a foul and made both shots to put the home team back up by three.
- White then hit a two, but Beech followed up with a quick layup to keep the Setters down by three points.
- With the clock nearing 60 seconds, Peterson swiped the ball away from Adelphi's Jack Laffey and sprinted to the hoop, where he put it in while being fouled, hitting the free throw to tie the game at 74-74 with just 1:17 on the clock.
- Suarez then went to the line and made both shots to go back up by two, and after each team made a stop, the Setters had possession with a chance to tie or win it at the buzzer.
- White's shot was good from right in front of his teammates, hitting his first career-buzzer beater to give the Setters the win and cap off a career night for the grad student.
SETTER STATS
- White finished with a career-high 28 points after making six threes in the game. He also pulled down six rebounds.
- Peterson followed with 19 points, six boards of his own, and a pair of steals.
- Mofunanya ended up with 12 points and five boards, while Dalessandro grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
PANTHER LEADERS
- Suarez scored 20 of his team-high 26 points in the second half, adding 10 rebounds for a double-double.
- McGuinness did not score in the second frame, finishing with 16 points and a game-high eight assists.
- Beech finished with 16 points off the bench.
RECORDS
- Pace: 7-16 (4-11 NE10)
- Adelphi: 15-8 (8-7 NE10)
UP NEXT
- The Setters return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 7, when they host Le Moyne College at the Goldstein Fitness Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
- Tuesday will be T-Bone Bobblehead Day, where the first 500 fans in attendance will receive a bobblehead of their favorite mascot, T-Bone!
For all information regarding Pace University men's basketball log on to
www.PaceUAthletics.com and follow Pace men's basketball on Twitter (
@PaceMBB).
