DeLand, Fla. – The Stetson Men's Basketball team finished their home schedule with an 84-72 victory over Kennesaw State on Senior Night. The team honored seniors Stephan Swenson, Josh Smith, Alec Oglesby and Giancarlo Valdez today before the game. 
 
"I'm happy for the seniors as they are great players and have impacted our program in many ways," said Head Coach Donnie Jones. "Tonight was a very physical, tough game and we found a way to pull away at the end with a great defensive effort." 
 
The Hatters jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with a three from Alec Oglesby and a layup from Stephan Swenson. The two teams traded a pair of threes making it 11-6. The Owls made it 15-12 but back-to-back threes from Treyton Thompson and Jalen Blackmon put the Hatters up by nine. Kennesaw State fought back and took a 25-24 lead. Stetson down 26-27 went on a 9-0 run to take 35-27 lead. The Hatters took a 37-32 lead into halftime. 
 
Kennesaw State game out of halftime and scored seven straight points to take a 37-39 lead. The Hatters the matched the Owls before tying the game back up at 47. A dunk for Aubin Gateretse gave the Hatters back the lead. Stetson continued trying to pull away, but Kennesaw State kept answering. With just under eight minutes left in the half Blackmon drew a foul on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to make it 60-55. Stetson added on another 12 as part of a 15-2 giving them a 15-point lead. The Owls scored six straight points but threes from Oglesby and Swenson erased that quickly. The Hatters shot free throws the rest of their possessions and converted all six winning 84-72. 
 
Blackmon led the game in scoring with 28 points as he went 8-18 from the field, 4-8 from three and a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. Swenson tallied 19 points and lead the teams in assists with eight and was second in rebounds with seven. Gateretse and Thompson were the other two Hatters in double figures with 12 and 10 respectively. 
 
As a team, Stetson shot 47.1% from the field, 45% from three and went 27-37 from the line. The team tallied seven blocks while out rebounding the Owls.
 
Stetson will take on Jacksonville on Wednesday, Feb 28 and North Florida on Friday, March 1 to close out the regular season. Both games will tip-off at 7pm. The Hatters sit second in the ASUN standings at 10-4.