NEW HAVEN, CT. – The Pace University men's basketball team was defeated by Southern Connecticut State University, 79-64, Wednesday evening.

Pace falls to 12-10 overall and 8-8 in Northeast 10 play.

In the first half, Matthew Constant came off the bench and hit three from downtown to spark the Setter offense early to take a 17-10 lead with just over seven minutes left in the opening 20 minutes.

The home team, led by Marty Silvera, responded with an 23-5 run of their own the rest of the way to take an 11-point lead into halftime, 33-22. Silvera alone at the half had 16 points. 

The home put the game out of reach early by coming out the locker room firing. The Setters scored the first basket, but SCSU responded with a 12-5 run to grow the lead to 45-29. The run was stopped by a Bryan Powell put back.

The layup kick started a solid stretch for Pace, allowing the Setters to get the lead down to single digits off another Powell lay in. The lead continued to drop as the Setters clamped down, showing why they are the top scoring defense in the conference, with Jabari Nurse adding four points to get the lead down to five, 56-51, with just under eight minutes left.

The momentum was killed by a home triple to make the score 59-51. Once the lead returned to double digits off another triple, the game was out of reach of the Setters. Powell turned in a strong second half, scoring all 27 of his points in the back half of the game.

Pace will continue the season on Saturday when they host Franklin Pierce University.