Pace Paw Print

Media Credit: Alex Pandolfi Desmond Quincy-Jones is firing off a beautiful shot from three point range.

Feb. 2, Pleasantville- The Pace Setters attempted numerous times to make a comeback against the Hawks of Saint Anselm. Unfortunately, it was too little too late for the Setters as they suffered an 81-69 loss against the Hawks.

Senior guard Ryan Williams led the Setters with a game high of 22 points. Williams, along with sophomore guard Laurence McGhee, tied for the team lead in assists with five apiece.

Junior forward Randy Wilson totaled a game high of 12 rebounds and along with 12 points had a double-double performance.

On the Hawks side of the court, senior guard Chris Vetrano created a double-double performance of his own by scoring 20 points along with a game high of eleven assists.

Sophomore forward Giovanni Carenza had a double-double of his own by putting up ten points and taking down ten rebounds.

In the early part of this match up, the Hawks were flying high over the Setters. After a 3-1 lead in the game's first few minutes, the Hawks piled on points as they went on an 11-0 run, extending their lead to 14-1.

With an early deficit growing larger by the second, and a Pace crowd almost taken out of the game, the Setters looked primed and ready for a comeback.

The Setters were down 15-3 with about 14 minutes left in the first half, and needed something to spark their offense and their crowd. The spark for Pace came in the form of Gibraltar White, who sank a three pointer, bringing the Hawks' lead to only nine points.

White's three point shot would actually send the Setters on a 17-6 point run, bringing the score to 21-20.

With the Setters only losing by one with five minutes remaining in the first half, White struck again, this time in the form of his free throw shooting. A silence through the gym is what White needed to sink in three free throws to give Pace a 23-21 lead.

Pace's lead was very short lived, as senior guard Junior Mitchell made a three pointer that put Saint Anselm right back on top with a 24-23 lead.

The Hawks would take advantage of this small lead by causing some turnovers which made them go on an 8-2 point run before the clock expired for the first half.

At the end of the opening half, the Setters were trailing the Hawks 32-25. Even with the score being close, the Setters were losing in the shooting game. Pace only made 29 percent of their shots, while Saint Anselm completed 50 percent from the field in the opening half.

Saint Anselm came out in the second half making one shot after another. The Hawks did not miss within the first three minutes of the second half. By that time, the Hawks extended their lead to 45-28.

Once again, the Setters were starting to let this game slip away and the needed someone to spark their offense. Williams was the one to attempt in igniting the offense this time by making a great fake shot, only to shoot and make a three pointer a second lead bringing the deficit down to 14.

Unfortunately this time, the three pointer only did so much. The Hawks kept on pushing the Setters further back and at one point bringing their lead to 21 points.

With a little over eight minutes left in the game, the Setters were losing 64-44 and this match up was looking very bleak for Pace.

Over the next three minutes, Pace rose to the occasion on both sides of the ball. Defensively, they did not allow Saint Anselm to score once, and offensively they kept making shots.

Eventually, the Setters made the score 64-54 and it looked like Pace had another shot at coming back.

Sadly, this was not going to be a comeback story for Pace. When freshman Thomas Baudinet sank a three pointer with four minutes left, it ended the Hawks' scoring drought and put them up by 13 points. This lead would normally not be overpowering, but with the Hawks continuing to score, the lead was too much to over come.

With the loss, Pace falls to 9-11 overall and 8-7 in the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10). Saint Anselm with the win, improves to 9-11 overall and 7-9 in the NE-10.

The next time the men's basketball team plays in Pleasantville will be on Feb. 16 at 3:30 p.m. against conference rival Saint Michaels.

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