While the days are dissolving and the nights are getting colder, Pace men’s basketball is starting its December road trip off well.
The Setters took care of business against the Panthers of Adelphi 56-49 on Dec. 4. The victory was Pace’s second on the young season and the first of two straight away from Pleasantville.
A couple of statistical anomalies occurred in Pace’s favor. For one thing, both the Setters and Panthers went 19-51 shooting from the field, which is the first time Pace and their opponent have had the exact same shooting percentage all year. The second odd stat was that the Panthers notched up 10 assists compared to just two from Pace, but the visiting team won.
Two important factors that lead to Pace’s victory was the combination of good rebounding and capitalizing on second chance opportunities. The Setters out-rebounded the Panthers by a total of 42-32 throughout the game. Also, Pace put up 11 second chance points while the home team did not get a single second chance basket.
The usual suspects were at it again for the Setters. Senior business management major Keon Williams lead the Setters in scoring with 18 points and also had seven rebounds on the night. Williams also recorded three steals and shot 8-12 from the free throw line.
Pace received a great contribution from junior business major Denzel Primus-Devonish as well, with 10 points and two rebounds on the night.
Although the Panthers had 30 bench points in the game compared to just 15 from Pace, it was the bench balance of the visiting team that made a difference. Junior marketing major Chris Frank lead the Setters in points off the bench with six while freshman finance major Eric Dansby added five points of his own.
The biggest contributor for the Panthers was Anthony Libroia who led Adelphi in scoring with 21 points on the day. Yet even with Libroia’s big day, Pace’s starters put up 41 points compared to just 19 points from Adelphi’s starting five.
With the win, the Setters improve to 5-3 overall and climb back to 3-3 in the Northeast-10. Currently, Pace finds itself in the number eight position in the NE-10 standings. The next game for the Setters will come on Dec. 16 when they travel to Mercy College to take on the Mavericks at 7:30 p.m.