Stetson fell to North Alabama Thursday night, 72-79. 
 
Stetson started off the first half on fire, opening a 16-4 lead. Jalen Blackmon scored his 1000^th career point on a shot from three during the Hatters 12-0 run. Blackmon became the 37^th player in the program to reach that milestone. Stetson's lead started to shrink as the Lions fought back. However, a 6-0 run pushed the lead back up to 11 on a layup from Tristan Gross. The lead shrunk down to two, but Stetson was able to push it back up to four, going into halftime up 35-31. 
 
Stephan Swenson started the scoring in the second half with a splash from beyond the arc to make it 38-31. Aubin Gateretse made back to back layups working to keep the lead for the Hatters but the game would be tied at 43. After North Alabama took a 43-45 lead, Alec Oglesby would answer the call from three giving the Hatters a 46-45 lead. The game was tied back up at 47 and Blackmon pushed Stetson back into the lead with a layup. After almost two minutes of scoreless basketball, Gateretse would make the layup after grabbing three offensive rebounds. As the teams made their way to the other end of the floor Gateretse blocked a layup before getting the ball back on the other end of the floor and drawing the foul. He went 1-2 from the free throw line giving the Hatters a 52-47 lead. After the Lions closed the gap down to three, Oglesby hit a three to give the Hatters a 55-49 lead. Two possessions later Swenson tossed an alley-oop to Gateretse, who slammed it home giving Stetson an eight point lead. The game was quickly trailing 57-58. Swenson once again stepped up to make a play hitting from beyond the arc making it 60-58 before the Lions tied it back up at 60. The two teams traded layups tying the game back up at 62. Gateretse drew a foul with 4:20 left and went 1-2 giving the Hatters a 63-62 game but the Lions retook the lead. North Alabama went up by seven and the Hatters weren't able to complete the comeback as they fell 72-79.
 
Swenson led Stetson in scoring as he put up 19 point. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists. The other Hatters in double figures were Gateretse with 17 and Blackmon with 15. Gateretse also led the team in rebounds with 11 as he tallied his sixth double-double of the season. 
 
As a team the Hatters went 29-66 from the floor, 8-26 from three and 6-11 from the free throw line.
 
Stetson will now travel to Conway to take on Central Arkansas. That game will take place on Saturday, February 3 at 4:30pm.