PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Behind a pair of 20-plus point performances from Tray Alexander and Bryan Powell, the Pace University men's basketball team secured a 94-90 win in the 2023-24 home opener over Felician University Wednesday evening.

Pace improves to 3-0 on the year and will welcome the College of Saint Rose to Goldstein Fitness Center on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. tipoff.

The Blue and Gold came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, opening an impressive 21-8 lead in the first 10-minutes before a Golden Falconsut. In that span, Powell and Jamaal Waters each added six points while Sean Bresnan added five and Alexander chipped in four. The Setters went 3-5 from deep during the run.

The Golden Falcons tightened up from there and chipped away and responded to every Setter run throughout the first half, getting the lead down to as little as six, 41-35, with just over a minute left. On the final possession of the half, Chaz Harvey pulled up from just in front of the logo at mid-court and buried a shot as the horn sounded to send the Setters into the locker room with a 46-38 lead.

A 12-2 Felician run begun the second half to tie the affair up at 57-57. Dee-End McRae led the way with five of the 12 points. Felician did manage to grab the lead, but it would only last for around 90 seconds when a pair of Harvey free throws swung the lead back to the home team for good. It was an up-tempo pace of play the rest of the way and the Setters got an exclamation point with just under six minutes left when Harvey lobbed the ball in transition to Waters, who slammed it home to take a 13-point lead, 80-67.

Felician did manage to keep whittling down the Setters lead, getting It down to four with under two-minutes left, but another Powell triple served as the dagger this evening.

Powell finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-11 from the field and 4-6 from deep while bringing down four rebounds and blocking two shots. Alexander finished with 21 points and 10 helpers while Waters added 18 of his own.