DELAND, FL - Five Hatters scored in double figures as Stetson beat Fort Lauderdale 103-77 at home Sunday afternoon.
The Hatters started the game off strong going on a 13-4 run which was capped off by a Mehki Ellison three. On the next possession, Blaize Sagna made his shot from beyond the arc to push the lead to 11. The two teams went shot for shot with Fort Lauderdale getting as close as seven. With just under five minutes left, Jordan Wood splashed one home from three to put the Hatters back up by double digits. Going into halftime, Stetson held a 14 point lead, with Wood and Ellison leading the team with 9 points each.
The Eagles came out of halftime and went on a 7-2 run, cutting the Stetson lead to single digits and Head Coach Donnie Jones called a timeout. Abramo Canka stopped the run out of the timeout, knocking his shot down from behind the arc. Stetson pushed their lead back up to 14, when Ellison lobbed a pass to Wood who slammed home the alley oop. With the Hatters leading 75-59 they expanded on their lead by going on an 8-0 run. Ellison scored five points in the run capping it off with a three, and Tristan Gross added in a make from downtown as well. After Fort Lauderdale hit a couple of shots, the Hatters went on a 12-2 run pushing the lead to 19. Another run for Stetson put them over the century mark and they coasted to a 103-77 victory.
The Hatters finished with five players in double figures. Ellison led the way with 25 points and added four assists. Finley Sheridan tacked on 15 points off of the bench and Wood helped out with 13 points, six rebounds and a team high six assists. Josh Massey and Gross were the other two players to hit the double digits mark. Stetson did a great job taking care of the basketball dishing out 27 assists while turning the ball over 10 times. Defensively, they were a force in the paint tallying 7 blocked shots as Canka led the team with two. In the second half, the Hatters shot 66.7% from beyond the arc, hitting eight shots from deep.
Stetson will be back in action on Sunday, December 29 when they head up to Gainesville and take on Florida. That game wil tip off at 1pm.
