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Hatters See Early Lead Evaporate in 79-63 Loss

Men's Basketball Stetson University

Hatters See Early Lead Evaporate in 79-63 Loss

DeLand, Fla. – Stetson men's basketball coach Casey Alexander did not go into Saturday afternoon's Atlantic Sun Conference game with USC Upstate looking for a sequel, but that is what he saw.

In a game that was very reminiscent of the Hatters' loss at Charleston Southern last month, Stetson (4-5, 1-1) built a big early lead over the visiting Spartans (7-5, 1-0), threatening to blow the game wide open in the first half, only to see USC Upstate rally late in the half to close the gap, and then dominate the Hatters in the second half.

The Spartans cut a 12-point first half deficit down to three, 35-32, by the break and then used a 12-0 run over an almost four-minute stretch of the second half to turn the game into their favor. Once the Spartans got the momentum, they never let off the gas, pulling away for a 79-63 victory over the Hatters.

“They were just better than we were for the last eight minutes of the game, on both ends of the floor,” Alexander said. “On every possession down the stretch they out-played us, out-coached us and out-everythinged us.”

The Hatters pushed their lead to as much as 12 points, 29-17, with 5:54 to go in the half by doing the one thing that have struggled to do all season – protect the basketball. At that point in the game Stetson, which came in averaging 22.3 turnovers per game, had just four.

Things suddenly changed from there. USC Upstate forced Stetson into four turnovers late in the half, and got consecutive three-pointers from Mario Blessing late in the half to close the gap before Chalmers Rogers hit a jumper with four seconds left to bring the Spartans within three.

When play got under way in the second half, the Hatters appeared to have corrected the problem and quickly moved back to an eight-point advantage on two inside baskets by Adam Pegg and a short jumper by Liam McInerney.

But the game seemed to turn at the 13:04 mark when Babatunde Olumuyiwa slammed home an ally-oop pass from Adrian Rogers. The Hatters managed only a Chris Perez layup over the next four minutes, losing the lead for the first time at the 9:28 mark on a layup by Ricardo Glenn.

After the lead changed hands twice, another Perez layup put Stetson back in front 56-55 with 7:56 to play. That was the last time the Hatters had an advantage.

“The big picture in this game is that they wanted it more than we did,” Alexander said. “You can say whatever you want to say about the way we played tonight, but it is the coaches job to make sure that the five guys on the floor play hard for 200 minutes.”

Stetson finished with 20 turnovers in the game, which the Spartans turned into 30 points. The Hatters, in turn, forced just 11 turnovers and converted those into just 10 points.

Stetson placed four players in double figures in the game, but none had more than the 12 scored by Perez. Pegg, Aaron Graham and Joel Naburgs added 10 each.

Freshman guard Ty Greene led the Spartans with 21 points while Torrey Craig added 13 and Glenn finished with a double-double, accounting for 12 points and 14 rebounds.

The Hatters will try to snap their second two-game losing skid of the year on Wednesday night when they play Charleston Southern in a rematch of that earlier loss. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at the Edmunds Center.

“That first game against them was very much like this game today,” Alexander said. “We played well early, got a lead, and then were unable to keep them from coming back. We talk all the time about how body language is so important to everything we want to do.

“We want to play every possession as if it is the most important possession of the game, and to do that you can't hang your head when someone makes a couple of threes in a row. That leads to more mistakes, and you finish like we finished today.”

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Players Mentioned

Aaron Graham

#20 Aaron Graham

G
6' 4"
Freshman
Liam McInerney

#24 Liam McInerney

F
6' 8"
Freshman
Joel Naburgs

#12 Joel Naburgs

G
6' 3"
Freshman
Adam Pegg

#41 Adam Pegg

F/C
6' 9"
Junior
Chris Perez

#3 Chris Perez

G
6' 4"
Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Aaron Graham

#20 Aaron Graham

6' 4"
Freshman
G
Liam McInerney

#24 Liam McInerney

6' 8"
Freshman
F
Joel Naburgs

#12 Joel Naburgs

6' 3"
Freshman
G
Adam Pegg

#41 Adam Pegg

6' 9"
Junior
F/C
Chris Perez

#3 Chris Perez

6' 4"
Redshirt Sophomore
G