Garden City, N.Y. - Looking to keep its Northeast-10 playoff hopes alive, the Adelphi University men's basketball team nearly led wire-to-wire in a 85-67 Southwest Division victory over the Pace University Setters on Saturday afternoon inside the Center for Recreation and Sports.

All eight players who saw the court for the Panthers in Saturday's victory got on the stat sheet with at least five points, led by 16 for Michael Coffey.

The trio of Jack Laffey, Terrel Martin-Garcia and Tavon Ginyard all totaled 13 points, while Conor McGuinness rounded out Adelphi's double-digit scorers with 10 points and a double-double with 11 assists. 

With the victory, Adelphi (10-16, 6-12 NE10), currently in sixth place in the Southwest Division, keeps pace with the idle, fifth-place Yellow Jackets of American International College, who currently have one less game on their record.

The Yellow Jackets have meetings with second-place Saint Rose and third-place New Haven on tap next week, before closing out the regular season with what could be a winner-take-all game for the final playoff spot in Garden City on Feb. 20. 

The Panthers trailed for a grand total of 14 seconds in Saturday's contest against Pace (7-18, 3-14 NE10) at 5-4, taking the lead for good at the 17:30 mark in the first half on a Martin-Garcia layup.

The Panthers scored 12 of the next 13 points of the contest from their lone to set the tone at the tune of an early 16-6 lead.

Despite five players picking up two fouls in the first half, Adelphi remained aggressive on offense, and shot over 50 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes with Ginyard leading all scorers with 10. The Panthers' defense held Pace to just 5-for-27 in field goal attempts, though the Setters were helped in part by free throw shooting. They found themselves at the line (10-for-15) nearly three times as much as the Panthers (4-for-5). 

The second half proved much of the same, as Adelphi's lead grew to a game-high 30 points (62-32) as McGuinness sank a three-pointer - one of 13 Adelphi made in the game - with 15:16 on the clock.

Coffey and Laffey came on strong in the second half, combining for 21 points, while Pace's Austin Gilbertson scored 16 of his game-high 21 points over the second 20 minutes. 

The Brown and Gold return to action in its final regular-season road contest of the year at Southern Connecticut State on Wednesday, Feb. 14. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. The Panthers defeated the Owls, 86-82, in the first meeting between the two teams in Garden City on Dec. 2.

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About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009, and in the past eight seasons, has collected 25 regular season conference titles, 26 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.

For the latest on Adelphi University Athletics, follow the Panthers at www.aupanthers.com or via social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat.