Pace Awaits In NE-10 Quarterfinals

Junior Nick Smith had a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) the last time the Skyhawks and Setters met.

Easton, Mass. - The No. 5 seeded Skyhawks make their second appearance of the season to Pace University's Goldstein Athletic Center on Monday for a Northeast-10 quarterfinal matchup with the host Setters.

Stonehill is coming off of a 69-63 first round win over American International at Merkert Gymnasium, while fourth-seeded Pace was one of four teams in the Conference to earn an opening round bye because of their regular season Conference record.

The Skyhawks jumped out to an early 18 points lead in the win over the Yellow Jackets but went cold in the second half, allowing the visitors to close the gap and eventually take the lead. Sophomore guard Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J./Monsignor Donovan) hit two clutch jumpers down the stretch, however, and Stonehill earned its 17th win of the season, one more than the had in the 2006-07 campaign.

The Setters meanwhile, were an NCAA Tournament team a season ago and stand at 14-13 entering Monday night's matchup. One of their victories this season came against Stonehill back on January 26. Pace got 26 points from Desmond Quincy-Jones and 21 from Ryan Williams to secure the 82-67 win.

Williams, who leads the Northeast-10 in scoring at 20.1 points per game, has also made a Conference best 88 three-pointers. Gibraltar White is the Setters second leading scorer at 14.5 a night and Quincy-Jones rounds out the double-digit scoring Pace trio at 13.6 points and adds a team-best 9.1 rebounds.

Stonehill, meanwhile, is paced by juniors Matt Hall (Springfield, Mass./Central) and Nick Smith (Colonia, N.J./Colonia) who are averaging 13.8 and 13.7 points per game, respectively. A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe), who had 16 points in the win over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, scores 12.3 points every time out and adds a team-best 5.7 rebounds.

Freshman Vince Rosario (Perth Amboy, N.J./Cardinal McCarrick) made a career-best seven three-pointers in the Skyhawks' loss to the Setters earlier this season. At 10.1 points per game, he is fourth in the Northeast-10 in three-point shooting at 43 percent.  

The winner of this matchup with face the winner of No. 8 LeMoyne and No. 1 Bentley. Should the Skyhawks and Dolphins pull off upsets, game would be played at Merkert Gymnasium.