PHILADELPHIA – The USciences men's basketball team pushed unbeaten Pace to the very end in an eventual 88-78 loss to the Setters in its home-opener at Bobby Morgan Arena on Wednesday night.

Trailing by a game-high 21 points, 64-43, near the midway point of the second half, and by 18, 77-59, with just 4:36 remaining, the Devils managed to pull within single digits in the final minute.

Two Sean Simon 3-pointers 38 seconds apart sparked a late comeback attempt, with an Austin Kennedy triple and Joemel McNair free throw with 1:58 to go making it a 10-point game, 79-69, for the first time since the 16:23 mark of the second half.

Pace (3-0) would put the game away with its free throw shooting though, making nine foul shots over the final 1:52 to complete a performance in which it made more free throws (24) than USciences attempted (22).

McNair converted a three-point play in the final seconds to make it a single-digit deficit for the first time all half, completing a 19-9 run over 4:13.  

That completed an 18-point performance for the redshirt-freshman in his home-opener, two points shy of Simon's team-high 20.

Along with Austin Kennedy's 15, Devils had three of the four highest point totals on the night, with the trio shooting a combined 18-of-31 from the floor.

McNair made 6-of-11 field goals while Simon went 7-for-10, highlighted by a 6-of-7 showing from beyond the arc.

The performance moved Simon into ninth in program history with 125 career triples. 

Kennedy made 4-of-6 3-pointers as USciences had a second straight strong showing from deep, making 45.2 percent as a team (14-of-31) compared to Pace's 22.2 percent (4-of-18).

The Setters dominated the glass though, 54-25, leading to a 22-6 advantage in second-chance points, which contributed to outscoring the Devils 50-18 in the paint.

Jordan Davidson tied his career-best with nine points and a team-high two steals off the bench, while Darryl Brown Jr. totaled eight in addition to leading all players with three blocks.  

Tommy Gardler added seven points and a team-high six rebounds, while Matthew McCaffrey led USciences with four assists.

University of the Sciences jumped out to its largest advantage, 7-2, just 2:54 into the action behind back-to-back 3-pointers by McNair and Kennedy.

Pace regained the lead back at the 15:04 mark though, and the Setters would never relinquish it.

They took their first double-digit advantage, 26-16, on a three-point play with 10:54 showing, growing it to as high as 30-18 1:33 later, before back-to-back buckets by Davidson brought the Devils within five, 30-25, with 6:07 left in the first.

Pace rattled off 12 unanswered though, with a Simon 3-pointer stopping the bleeding to make the score 43-28 entering the locker room.    

University of the Sciences got as close as 10, 48-38, on the McNair free throw 3:37 out of the break, but the Devils could not pull within single digits until his three-point play in the final minute.

The Devils will look to bounce back when they continue a three-game home-stand on Saturday, hosting Millersville at 2 p.m.