Jacksonville, Fla. - Stetson (2-4, 0-1) opened its Atlantic Sun Conference season with a 70-61 road loss to Jacksonville (5-1, 1-0) Thursday night in the Veterans Memorial Arena. Three Hatters scored in double figures led by Ridge Graham (Stuart, Fla.) with 15 points. Jermol Paul (West Palm Beach, Fla.) added 11 points followed by Tyshawn Patterson (Orlando, Fla.) with 10. Tevin Galvin (Palm Coast, Fla.) equaled Graham's effort with 15 points for the Dolphins.
Graham shot 7-of-9 from the field and also led Stetson under the glass with seven rebounds. Paul was an impressive 7-for-8 from the line; his 11 points was a high for his short career.
With 4:08 remaining in the game Corey Walden (Daytona Beach, Fla.) buried a three-pointer and moments later Patterson popped a jumper from just inside the free throw line and the Hatters were within seven points at 59-52. That was as close as they would get however as the Dolphins outscored the visitors 11-9 coming down the stretch and held on for the nine-point win.
"I thought we played hard tonight. Free throws and turnovers hurt us in the first half and in the second it was the offensive rebounds that killed us", said Stetson head coach Derek Waugh. "We just didn't have enough big plays to win a tough road game like this."
"Our game plan was to try and keep them out of the paint and we did a good job of that in the second half", he added. "I thought Jamal played really well."
Statistically it was an even game all around with Stetson shooting 41% from the field (21-for-51) and JU hitting at 44% (24-of-55). The Hatters shot 65% (17-for-26) from the line and the Dolphins were a bit higher at 68% (17-for-25). Stetson turned the ball over 17 times, yet JU topped that with 18. The biggest difference was Stetson's inability to hit the 3-pointers (2-for-17) 12% and Jacksonville's 70-61 advantage in rebounding.
The Hatters came out fired up in the first half scoring the game's first points five seconds in on a dunk by Ridge Graham. Joel Naburgs (Victoria, Australia) was next with a jumper at 18:35 and Stetson was up 4-0. JU evened the score and then both teams went into defensive mode. The Hatters baffled the Dolphins with their zone and clogged the passing lanes. It wasn't until 10:25 on the clock when JU hit double digits and took a 10-8 lead. Steve Forbes (Clermont, Fla.) hit a pair of free throws at 7:51 to get Stetson to 10 points and then JU went on a 16-9 run to finish the half up by nine at 28-19.
Next up the Hatters will return to Jacksonville Saturday, December 4 to take on UNF at 7:00 p.m. Hatter Vision subscribers can see the A-Sun TV broadcast at www.gohatters.com. 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.
