Hatters Roll Past Rattlers to Improve to 2-0

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Stetson Hatters overcame another rash of turnovers on Monday night, but exerted their dominance on the glass against homestanding Florida A&M to take a 78-60 victory over the Rattlers.

The Hatters (2-0) have now won two straight games to open a season for the first time since the 1952-53 Stetson team won three straight to start the year. It was also the first non-conference road victory for the Hatters since an 89-79 victory at Wake Forest to start the 2010-11 season.

Stetson turned the ball over 26 times against the Rattlers (0-2), but FAMU gave the ball back to the Hatters 19 times. Stetson was able to build a lead by beating the Rattlers on the boards to the tune of a 54-31 advantage.

“If you put the entire 40 minutes together tonight, it was significantly better than the first game,” Hatters coach Casey Alexander said. “We all know there is miles and miles of improvement left to go.”

The game was still in doubt until inside of eight minutes were left when junior Adam Pegg stepped out and drained a long three-pointer and Chris Perez followed on the next Hatters with a three-pointer of his own, pushing the Stetson lead to 22.

“The whole second half I was a little slow because I got into foul trouble,” Pegg said. “I missed an easy layup and then I got that wide-open shot. I hit those in practice, so I decided to take it.”

Pegg led all scorers in the game with 15 despite fouling out with 4:48 left to play. The Hatters also got 13 points from Liam McInerney, who hit a pair of three-pointers in the game, and 12 from Chris Perez. Of the 11 Hatters who saw action in the game, 10 scored.

Joel Naburgs hit just two shots in the game for Stetson, both from three-point range, but finished the night with a career-high 11 rebounds.

“I thought we shared the ball well,” Alexander said. “You have to trust each other in order to share the ball like that. There are going to be nights when Adam scores a lot of points, or Chris or Joel scores a lot of points, but we want to be a team that has a lot of options.”

FAMU was led by Yannick Crowder with 13 points while Avery Moore and Nathaniel Drayton added 10 each.

The Hatters will conclude their two-game road trip to Tallahassee on Wednesday night when they venture into the Donald L. Tucker Center on the Florida State campus to take on the unbeaten Seminoles.

The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start and will be available online through ESPN3.com.

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Players Mentioned

#24 Liam McInerney: F; 6' 8"; Freshman

#12 Joel Naburgs: G; 6' 3"; Freshman

#41 Adam Pegg: F/C; 6' 9"; Junior

#3 Chris Perez: G; 6' 4"; Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#24 Liam McInerney
: 6' 8"; Freshman
: F

#12 Joel Naburgs
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: G

#41 Adam Pegg
: 6' 9"; Junior
: F/C

#3 Chris Perez
: 6' 4"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

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Hatters Roll Past Rattlers to Improve to 2-0

Players Mentioned

#24 Liam McInerney

#12 Joel Naburgs

#41 Adam Pegg

#3 Chris Perez

Players Mentioned

#24 Liam McInerney

#12 Joel Naburgs

#41 Adam Pegg

#3 Chris Perez