The Hatters hold on to beat Austin Peay 83-82 in a thrilling back and forth game that had the Edmunds Center shaking. The victory occurred exactly three weeks since Stetson hit a game winning shot against North Florida to start conference play. 
 
"It was a great team effort," said Head Coach Donnie Jones. "The guys made some key free throws down the stretch and gave us a hard fought victory tonight."
 
Stetson found themselves closely trailing Austin Peay early in the first half after missing 4 of their first 5 shots and committing a couple of turnovers. Down 3-8, Tristan Gross located in the corner would put up a shot with the clock expiring and drain it closing the gap. The Hatters continued clawing back as Treyton Thompson made a putback layup, followed by Blackmon driving the lane and finding the bottom of the net on an and one layup. He hit the freethrow closing the gap to one. Gross was the one to give the Hatters their first lead of the game on a pull up jumper after the defense made a stop in the paint. Another offensive rebound by Thompson found its way into Naeem Lewis's hands. Wide open in the corner Lewis splashed it home on his only shot of the game pushing the Hatters to a 19-15 lead. The teams would trade baskets over the next few minutes before Gross pulled up for a heat check three and swished it pushing the Hatter's lead to seven. Austin Peay would go on a run of their own tying it at 34 going into the half. 
 
"Coach always says its 90% about us," said Freshman Guard Gross. This week we focused on executing, playing defense, and my teammates have been telling me they believe in me and to play my game."
 
The second half Stephan Swenson and Alec Oglesby were fire and ice. Going into half Oglesby hadn't scored yet while Swenson had 5 points and three assists. They wasted no time once the Governors inbounded the ball. Swenson forced a steal down low and found Oglesby who hit from behind the arc making it 37-34. Austin Peay would pull out ahead but Swenson found Blackmon this time who hit his first three of the game to give the Hatters a 40-39 lead. With Austin Peay taking the lead again, Swenson this time hit a jumper to tie the game at 42. The Governors took back the lead but Swenson answered again banking in a jumper to tie the game at 44. A couple possessions later Aubin Gateretse gave the Hatters the lead back on a hook shot making it 46-44. With the score tied at 46, the Hatters scored on back to back possessions including a layup from Gross and a three from Oglesby. Those two baskets pushed the Stetson lead to five. The teams would trade buckets until the Governors tied the game back up at 55. After some physical play the Hatters trailed 59-64. Swenson from his spot at the top of the key lobbed a pass up to Gateretse he snatched it and put it in for the layup. After the Hatters next stop on defense, Swenson grabbed the defensive rebound and drilled a three to tie the game back up at 64, with 7:30 left in the game. With each second that ticked by the Edmunds Center crowd of 939 grew louder. Oglesby gave the Hatters the lead back on a layup but Austin Peay tied it back up at 66. The score would once again be tied at 68 when Gateretse got his defender to leave his feet before making the layup and drawing the foul. He converted the free throw and the Governors once again tied the game at 71. With just over four minutes left Swenson found Oglesby for a three. That assist was Swenson's tenth giving him his second double-double of the season. The score was tied back up at 74, as Swenson found his way to the line on back to back possessions. He went 3-4 from the line making it 77-74. The score would once again be tied, this time at 79 with under 30 seconds remaining. The Hatters worked the ball around and Oglesby drove to the net and made the layup through contact. The sound of the crowd was deafening. 939 fans, the largest crowd in DeLand since the 2019-2020 season, jumped up and down hoping for one final stop. The Governors made their way down the court and missed the layup. The fans grew antsy waiting for the clock to hit zero. Austin Peay grabbed the offensive rebound and put up another shot. Blackmon pulled in the rebound while getting fouled and the crowd roared. Blackmon converted on both of his free-throws with 2.8 seconds left. The Hatter defense stayed back not wanting to get tempted into fouling a player shooting a three and the Governors' shot went end as time expired. The Hatters left the court triumphantly, claiming victory 83-82.
 
"It's part of my job," said Swenson. "In the second half, I think they left me open, so I took a lot of shots and I think I missed three or four in a row and that's when I realized that what I do best is get into the paint and make decisions. That's where the defense has to decide whether to guard me, or my bigs or my shooters.
 
Swenson led the team in scoring with 19 points while also picking up 10 assists. This was his fourth career double-double. Oglesby wasn't fair behind him as he finished with 18 points while also grabbing a team high 7 rebounds. Five Hatters finished in double figures as Gateretse finished with 14, Gross tallied 13 and Blackmon rounded out the group with 10.
 
As a team, Stetson shot 50% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. After coming three turnovers in the first four minutes, the Hatters only turned it over 4 times the rest of the way. In a back and forth game the lead changed 11 times. It was also tied 13 times. When the game came down to it Stetson's defense made the most important stop and grabbing the defensive board by being physical.
 
"We really focused on our defensive mindset, getting stops, getting rebounds and really focusing on how we can stack stops," stated Swenson. "In the second half things got phsycial, and they had to make big shots and we rallied."
 
The Hatters will look to carry this momentum in their Saturday showdown with Lipscomb. That game will tip-off at 2pm at the Edmunds Center.