Men's Basketball December 02, 2011 Stetson University

Hatters Regain Shooting Touch To Down ETSU

DeLand, Fla. – It took the Stetson Hatters a few minutes to find their shooting touch Thursday night against East Tennessee State in the Atlantic Sun Conference opener for both teams.

The Hatters missed their first four three-point attempts, and eight of their first 11 shots from the field, before sophomore Aaron Graham drained a three-pointer eight minutes into the game, and opened the flood gates to a 73-65 Stetson victory.

Stetson (4-3, 1-0) finished the night having hit 11-of-24 three-point shots while also dominating the Buccaneers (3-3, 0-1) on the boards to the tune of 45-28.

“I am obviously very pleased with the win,” Hatters coach Casey Alexander said. “They are a good team and they will be near the top of the standings when it is all said and done.

By the time Graham hit the first of his five three-pointers, the Hatters' streak of consecutive missed threes had reached 20, back to a bank-in by Dennis Diaz in the opening minutes against Florida on Monday. By the time Thursday's game was over, Stetson had shot the ball almost as well from three-point range (45.8%) as the Hatters did from inside the arc (46.6%).

“Those shots have a way of evening themselves out and tonight they fell for us,” Alexander said. “That is just basketball. That is the way it goes.”

In addition to the career-high tying 20 points the Hatters got from Graham, whose five three-pointers also tied a career high, Stetson also got five three-pointers from junior Joel Naburgs. The Australian was not in the starting lineup for the Hatters for the first time this year, primarily due to his season-long shooting slump.

“I have been frustrated with how I have been shooting because I know that I need to be making more,” Naburgs said. “I am going to keep my head up because I know that I am a good shooter.”

After combining to hit five three-pointers in the first half, helping Stetson to a 28-25 lead at the break, it was Graham and Naburgs who got the Hatters out of the gate quickly in the second half, pushing that lead to as much as 22 points.

“Aaron and Joel put the ball in the basket,” Alexander said. “That is what they are best at and they know the staff has confidence in them to know when they have a good shot and we need them to make it. They have to do that if we are going to be a good team.”

It was Graham to started the Hatters on a 16-4 run to open the second half and it was Naburgs who hit consecutive threes at the 12:25 and 12:03 marks that pushed the Stetson lead to 52-34.

That advantage grew to its apex with 9:32 to play when Liam McInerney put in a layup on an assist from Naburgs.

“I think we just started to get some confidence, knowing that we can actually compete with a team like this,” Naburgs said. “They are notorious for being a really good team and, in the past, they have beaten us pretty badly. Once we realized that we could compete we started gaining confidence and were able to make some buckets.”

From that 22-point lead, the Hatters had to hold on for dear life down the stretch. ETSU turned up the defensive intensity and Stetson's season-long nemesis, the turnover, came back into play. Stetson turned the ball over 23 times in the game, and those miscues led to 23 ETSU points. The Buccaneers also dominated the points in the paint, outscoring Stetson 44-26 from the inside.

ETSU made a furious rally as a result of those turnovers, and closed to withing six points, 71-65, with 18 seconds left, on a three-pointer by Jarvis Jones, but junior Chris Perez put the victory on ice with a pair of free throws.

The victory obviously gives Stetson an early leg up in the Atlantic Sun race, but Alexander said his team knows this is a long ride.

“It sounds good, but we all know that this is a long road and, by the time we get into the real meat of the conference schedule, no one will remember this game,” Alexander said. “That is part of it but, for now, we are going to enjoy this.”

Naburgs echoed his coach's thoughts, but said this win will give the Hatters much-needed confidence going into league play later in the season.

“It is such a big, big thing for us,” Naburgs said. “We really wanted this. We are going through an entirely new process and it is going to be a long process, but nothing could make that process better than coming in and winning this first game.”

In addition to the 20 points by Graham and 15 from Naburgs, the Hatters also got 14 points from Perez and 12 points and nine rebounds from Adam Pegg. Isiah Brown led ETSU with 20 points. Adam Sollazzo added 13 and the Bucs' leading scorer, Marcus Dubose, had 11.

The Hatters will be back in action on Sunday when they visit Bloomington, Ind., for a matchup with the unbeaten Indiana Hoosiers. That game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. start from Assembly Hall and video will be available online through the Big Ten Network.

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Players Mentioned

#20 Aaron Graham: G; 6' 4"; Freshman

#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

#1 Dennis Diaz: G; 6' 4"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#20 Aaron Graham
: 6' 4"; Freshman
: G

#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

#1 Dennis Diaz
: 6' 4"; Freshman
: G

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Hatters Regain Shooting Touch To Down ETSU

Players Mentioned

#20 Aaron Graham

#24 Liam McInerney

#12 Joel Naburgs

#41 Adam Pegg

#3 Chris Perez

#1 Dennis Diaz

Players Mentioned

#20 Aaron Graham

#24 Liam McInerney

#12 Joel Naburgs

#41 Adam Pegg

#3 Chris Perez

#1 Dennis Diaz