For the third consecutive night in Daytona Beach the Hatters were unable to pick up a victory in the Glenn Wilkes Classic. Tonight Stetson fell victim to an aggressive Georgia Southern team that won three of four games in the tournament. After losing to Florida State in Tallahassee, the Eagles swept their Daytona Beach games over Cleveland State, Alabama-Birmingham and tonight 68-55 over the Hatters.
For most of the first half it looked as though Stetson could be breaking out of its shooting slump with the Hatters hovering around a 50% shooting percentage. As the half, and the game progressed however, the average slowly declined until the Hatters finished at 33.9% from the field, 22.2% from 3-point range.
Once again junior guard Garfield Blair (Orlando, Fla./Boone H.S.) did what he could to keep the team moving offensively. He led the Hatters with 13 points and six rebounds. Sophomore point guard A.J. Smith (Cocoa Beach, Fla./Cocoa H.S.) had his most productive game of the season scoring 10 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and dishing out a team-high five assists.
After the game Smith was asked what the team had to do to change the current results. “We have a long season ahead of us. We know what mistakes we are making and we will work hard to correct them”, he said. “We have to keep our turnovers to a minimum and step up on defense. If we can stop them (defensively), our offense will come around.”
Also scoring in double-figures on the night was junior forward Eric Diaz (Miami, Fla./Columbus H.S.) who was 4-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line for 11 points. Doing all he could to fire up the team, Diaz dove for loose balls and crashed the boards for four rebounds.
Head Coach Derek Waugh was somewhat frustrated with tonight's performance. “We took a step back tonight”, he said. “Every time we made a run to get back in it, they absorbed it. We let them shoot 50%. If we played with a little more fire we could have won this game. They had one thing we lack right now and that's confidence.”
Poor shooting and lack of confidence are both factors that can be overcome with hard work and persistence. Hatters fans can rest assured that this team is not short on work ethic or the desire to win. As A.J. Smith said, “Our offense will come around.”
Stetson returns to the court Wednesday night in the Edmunds Center when it hosts Bethune-Cookman in a 7:00 p.m. game. And then, following the holiday, the Hatters will hit the road to play the Gators in Gainesville (11/27) and Florida State in Tallahassee (11/30). Both of those games will be televised on FSN Florida.
