DeLand, Fla. - Stetson (2-3) jumped out to an early lead and then cruised to an 85-67 win over Palm Beach Atlantic (1-4) Wednesday afternoon in the Edmunds Center. It was a team effort from start to finish as 11 of 13 Hatters who played in the game scored at least one point, and 12 of 13 finished with one or more rebounds.
Senior A.J. Smith (Cocoa, Fla.) and freshman Tyshawn Patterson (Orlando, Fla.) each scored 20 points for Stetson, while redshirt freshman Ridge Graham (Stuart, Fla.) added a career-high 19. Smith also led the team in assists with five and tied for the team-high in rebounds with six.
Jonathan Lawrence (Miami Gardens, Fla.) led the visitors with 18 points followed by Chris Joseph (Miami, Fla.) with 14 and Dante Valentine (Spring Hill, Fla.) with 10.
It was an unusual and interesting start of the game for Stetson. A look at the game's play-by-play shows the Hatters did not score a two-point field goal until Patterson hit a jumper at 14:02. They managed to combine that field goal with four 3-pointers and three free throws into a 17-7 lead. Two of the four long balls were knocked down by junior Shawn Bowen (Montreal, Quebec) who picked up his first start, and points of the season. He finished the game with a career-high eight points after shooting a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from downtown.
"Bowen's play at the beginning set the tone for the game", said Stetson head coach Derek Waugh.
The Stetson advantage reached a high of 29 points when JR Weston (Morral, Ohio) buried a pair of free throws with just over a minute remaining in the first period. The Hatters went into the break with a 49-23 lead after shooting an impressive 62% (16-26) from the field and 64% (7-11) from 3-point range.
Stetson was not as hot in the second half, yet still managed to shoot 40% from the field and hold off Palm Beach Atlantic's efforts to get back in the game. Smith showed why he is a preseason all-conference pick and a team leader by example. He controlled the pace of the game and scored 10 of his 20 points including a 6-for-6 effort from the line in crunch time.
"A.J. played his best game of the year", said Waugh.
As a team Stetson finished the game shooting a season-high 50% (27-54) from both field as well as from 3-point range (8-16). The Hatters also out-rebounded the Sailfish 47 to 39.
"We did a better job of hitting the boards", said Waugh. "We are gradually getting better but by no stretch of the imagination are we a finished product yet."
Stetson will now enjoy a brief holiday break before returning to the court Monday, November 30 for its conference opener at USC Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Hatters will then hop on the bus to Louisville, Kentucky to play the University of Louisville. Stetson fans can tune into A-Sun TV for coverage of the USC Upstate game and then follow the Louisville game on Hatter Vision audio with Murray Miller and Harry Arnold calling the action.
