PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Despite a combined 44 points from
Tray Alexander and
Bryan Powell, the Pace University men's basketball team fell in overtime to Saint Michael's College, 83-82, in the Goldstein Fitness Center on Saturday.
The Setters drop to 12-9 on the year and 8-7 in conference play. Pace will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday with a trip to Southern Connecticut State University, with tip-off in New Haven set for 7:30 p.m.
The home team opened the first half red-hot, firing off an impressive 18-6 run right out of the gate, led by nine points from Powell and five from Alexander. The Purple Knights were not deterred by the early deficit and whittled the lead down and eventually swung it in their favor, utilizing a 21-8 run as the half closed to take a 43-35 lead into the locker room.
The momentum that the visitor had going into the half carried over into the start of the second half, going on a 14-6 spirit to gain the largest lead of the evening, 57-41.
With their work cut out for them, Pace's offense got to work. They started by scoring 12 unanswered points to cut the lead to five, 57-53. The Purple Knights got on the board with a lone free throw but following that, another seven unanswered Pace points which was capped off by a triple from Matt Constant gave Pace a slim, 60-58 lead with less than 10 minutes to go. When the Purple Knights got their footing back, it ended up being a 30-9 run in favor of Pace to give the Blue and Gold a five-point, 71-66 lead with just over five minutes left.
Both teams traded baskets down the stretch and after a foul on
Jabari Nurse, Romar Reid was sent to the line with a chance to win the game. Reid, who turned in a marvelous offensive performance for the visitors, could not connect on either free throw as Goldstein was as loud as it had been all season. With a chance to win, Pace raced up the court, but Alexander could not connect on another buzzer-beater, sending the game to overtime.
Overtime was a defensive battle, with the first basket going to Darrel Yepdo of the Purple Knights. It wouldn't be for a couple more minutes until Alexander went 1-2 from the line but Pace would never get the basket they needed to complete the valiant comeback.
Reid finished with 32 points on 12-21 from the field for the visitors.
Marc Dadika turned in 17 points on 9-10 from the charity stripe while bringing down seven rebounds. As a team, Pace shot an even 50 percent from the field while out-rebounding SMC, 39-28.
