Pleasantville, NY (12/29/09)  Junior center Almin Hodzic (Budd Lake, NJ) led all scorers with a season high double-double of 21 points and 15 rebounds as the Dominican College men's basketball team defeated Pace University, 56-55, this evening at the Pace University Holiday Classic.

The setters opened up the game with a 5-0 run to take an early lead and led 13-7 with 10:22 remaining in the first stanza.  The Chargers went on a 15-7 run to knot the game at 22-20 with just under four minutes to go before the intermission.  A three point bucket from senior forward Brendan McManus (Pearl River, NY) gave DC a 27-23 lead and they held a 27-24 lead at the break.

A 5-1 spurt to start the second half put the Chargers up 32-25 and would extend their lead to 42-27 with 14:07 remaining in the contest.  The Setters later fought back with an 14-6 run to cut the lead to 56-55 with 0:46 to go.  A three point attempt with 0:01 on the clock by Pace was blocked by freshman Preston Smith (Mays Landing, NJ) as Dominican held on for the 56-55 victory.

Hodzic led all scorers on the night, while McManus and point guard Leon Porter (Laurel, MD) each netted nine points and combined for 11 rebounds in the victory.  Smith finished with six points and four rebounds.

Hodzic was named to the Pace University Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team after tallying 32 points and 28 rebounds in two games.

With the victory Dominican improves to 6-6 overall, while Pace falls to 6-5 on the season.

Dominican is back in action this weekend as they host the 4th Annual James Clancy Tournament on Coach Baxter Court at the Hennessy Center.  DC will take on Mercy College on January, 2nd at 4pm and will face Queens College at 4pm on January, 3rd.