Pleasantville, N.Y.- 7th ranked Pace Men’s Basketball advances to the NE-10 Quarterfinals courtesy of a 72-51 blowout of #10 Adelphi University Panthers.

Pace’s last game was an 81-56 thrashing of Franklin Pierce on February 24th to lock into the 7th seed.

Pace won their previous two meetings over Adelphi. They won by 3 on January 4th by a score of 82-79 and by 5 on February 15th, 77-72.

The lead changed multiple times in the opening  5 minutes of the first half. Bryan Powell got a layup to put Pace 12-7. Adeleye Oyekanmi with a 3 put Pace up 9 at 16-7.

Adelphi pulled within one with 5:35 at 22-21 from a 3-pointer from Elijah Lewis. A back-and-forth ended the half between the teams. At the half, Pace led 31-26.

Both teams kept pace, the gap between two to six points for the first 4 minutes. Adonis Williams got a layup to put Pace ahead 42-32 at 14:40. He would score another layup and a 3 for a personal 7-0 run. Bryan Powell hit a three to put Pace up 50-34 forcing a Panthers’ timeout.

Adelphi and Pace would exchange baskets once again with few defensive stops, detrimental to the Panthers.

Pace’s lead continued in the double digits. Freshman guard Jabari Nurse hit a three to put them up 64-46 at 3:56. Lyron Bennett hit a three to make it 69-48.

The final score for this round 1 matchup was Pace 72, Adelphi 51. The Setters officially swept the Panthers for the 2022-23 season. Their 21-point advantage was their most significant margin of victory over Adelphi, surpassing their 5-point win on February 15.

Both Lyron Bennett and Bryan Powell scored 16. Brandon Powell scored 15 and had 5 rebounds. Adonis Williams had 13 points and 5 rebounds. As a team, Pace shot 50% versus 29.8% for Adelphi.

Pace reaches the quarterfinals for the second straight year. They head to Manchester, New Hampshire to meet the 2nd-seeded Saint Anselm College Hawks, who earned themselves a bye with a 15-5 conference record.

Pace defeated Saint Anselm both times this season. The Setters blew out the Hawks at home by 27 points on November 22nd,m 74-47. On the road, Pace won again in Manchester on February 1st. They got another 20-point win over Saint Anselm, then ranked #23 in NCAA Division II Polls, 77-56.

Pace vs Saint Anselm tips off at 1 p.m. on Sunday, February 26th. Watch live on NE10now.tv