Las Vegas, Nev. - The Stetson men's basketball team came up just short and fell 66-63 to Rice Tuesday afternoon at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic. With the loss Stetson dropped to 3-7 on the season while Rice improved to 6-4.
Freshman Corey Walden (Ormond Beach, Fla.) led the Hatters with 15 points shooting 5-for-10 from the field, 3-of-7 from long range and 2-for-2 from the line. Also scoring in double-figures for Stetson were Aaron Graham (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) with 13, Ridge Graham (Stuart, Fla.) with 12, and Joel Naburgs (Victoria, Australia) with 11. Ridge Graham, the team's leading scorer and rebounder was able to play just 15 minutes after getting into foul trouble and eventually fouling out of the game.
Graham was sorely missed coming down the stretch. His final foul came at 5:37 and the ensuing free throw put Rice up by seven points at 54-47. In Stetson's next possession Walden drained a three pointer reducing the deficit to four points. After a jumper by Naburgs with 3:15 remaining the lead was down to 56-54. Stetson would get as close as 64-63 while playing the foul 'em and hope they miss the free throws game. The Owls hit just as many as they needed in the final seconds to pull out the three point win.
As a team Stetson shot 41% (22-of-54) from the field, 25% (6-for-24) from outside the arc, and 77% (13-for-17) from the line. The Owls finished with an advantage in points in the paint (28-20), points off turnovers (13-10), 2nd chance points (21-9) fast break points (6-0) and bench scoring 22-12).
Next up the Hatters will continue their play in the L.V. Holiday Hoops Classic. Stetson will play Akron on Dec. 22 at 5:15 p.m.and Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec. 23 at 7:00 p.m. Stetson fans can hear the games on Hatter Vision with 17-year veterans Murray Miller and Harry Arnold calling the action. Also be sure to follow the Hatters on Twitter at @StetsonSID (twitter.com/stetsonsid), "like" Stetson Athletics on Facebook and check out the official YouTube channel at youtube.com/stetsonhatters.
