PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - The 24th-ranked Saint Michael's College men's basketball team won its fourth one-point game of the season on Saturday, downing regionally-ranked Pace University, 83-82, in overtime at the Goldstein Health, Fitness & Recreation Center. The Purple Knights opened a two-game lead for first place in the Northeast-10 Conference thanks to the victory coupled with other action around the league.
 
Saint Michael's was 24th in this week's D2CSC national poll while receiving votes toward the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) national rankings, and is second in the D2CSC East Region poll. The Setters were seventh in the most recent D2CSC East Region standings.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (16-5, 12-3 NE10), Pace (12-9, 8-7 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Romar Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Woodstock Academy/Manhattan), 32 points, 5 assists, 12-for-21 field goals, 4-for-6 three-pointers, 43 minutes
• Junior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 16 points, 3 assists, 5-for-8 field goals, 3-for-6 three-pointers, 3-for-3 free throws
• Sophomore Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 5-for-7 field goals
• Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 7-for-8 free throws
• Junior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2-for-5 three-pointers
• Sophomore Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Bryan Powell, 23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 11-for-19 field goals
• Senior Tray Alexander, 21 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals
• Graduate student Marc Dadika, 17 points, 7 rebounds, 9-for-10 free throws

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights are 6-2 against regionally-ranked foes and an NCAA East Region-best 9-2 on the road, their most true road wins since going 10-3 in 2000-01.
• Saint Michael's has won five straight match-ups between the teams, the longest winning streak by either team in series history, and picked up its fifth win in the last six visits to Pace.
• Saint Michael's held a key advantage from three-point range, shooting 40.7% (11-for-27) to the Setters' 29.2% (7-for-24). The Purple Knights also had leads in points off of turnovers (23-13) and fastbreak points (15-6).
• Reid turned in his third 30-point performance this season, and second in the last three games.
• The Purple Knights downed Pace by one point for the second time this season.
• Saint Michael's has won a school-record four one-point decisions this year, bolstered by collecting three straight one-point victories between November and December.
• The Purple Knights' four one-point wins in their last 17 games match their total from the prior 146 games since the 2016-17 season.
• Saint Michael's held Alexander, the national leader in assists per game (7.4), to only six during 45 minutes.

THE ACTION

• Pace used a 16-2 run, keyed by nine points from Powell, to forge an 18-6 lead by 12:51 of the opening half.
• Consecutive three-pointers from Crews and Reid had Saint Michael's within 20-16 by 10:16, and the Purple Knights later put together a 17-5 stretch that gave them a 40-32 lead with 1:21 to go. Yepdo (7 points), Reid (6) and Marold (4) did all the scoring, and the visitors led 43-35 at halftime.
• An early 9-0 second-half surge, sparked by six Reid points and a Duniver triple, had the Purple and Gold up 55-39 at 16:09.
• Alexander scored 10 points in a 21-3 response, and redshirt sophomore Matthew Constant hit a go-ahead three at 9:54 to make it 60-58.
• Reid (8:49) and Constant (8:31) later traded go-ahead triples, and Pace pushed its lead to 71-66 with 5:04 left in regulation.
• Reid's step-back jumper created a 74-all tie with 1:36 to go, and Alexander's floater 19 seconds later was met by Marold's tying lay-in at 56 seconds.
• The teams combined for two missed free throws, a missed bucket and a turnover in the closing 33 seconds, and they headed to overtime.
• Yepdo knocked down a jumper at 3:36 of the extra session for the first points, which gave Saint Michael's a 78-76 edge and the lead for good, and Reid's tough lay-up through contact at 1:17 produced an 80-77 edge.
• Marold blocked a Pace attempt on the next possession before Yepdo grabbed the rebound of a missed second-chance jumper, and Marold pulled down another board with 13 seconds left and his team still up three.
• Yepdo hit three free throws in the final 11 seconds to give his team an 83-79 lead and make it a two-point game before Pace hit a three at the buzzer to create the final margin.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Wednesday vs. The College of Saint Rose, 7:30 p.m.