Stephan Swenson called game as the Stetson Hatters claim an 88-87 victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins to make it to the ASUN Championship game. Swenson saved this game for the Hatters with a three with 21 seconds left to put the Hatters down one and then another three with four seconds left to give Stetson the win. Stetson will host Austin Peay for the ASUN Championship with the Hatters able to earn their first ever birth to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Aubin Gateretse started off the scoring for the Hatters as he hit a layup to tie the game early at two. Stetson would find themselves down 6-10 when Tristan Gross hit a three to cut the Hatters' deficit to one. The Dolphins would try to pull away again but another layup from Gateretse and three from Gross brought the Hatters back to within one. Following a Jacksonville turnover Gross took a heat check three and hit once again to give Stetson a 17-15 lead. The Dolphins hit a free throw to make it a one-point game and Swenson scored a layup to put Stetson up three. The two teams traded buckets until the score was tied back up at 21. Swenson went down the court and popped a three that was answered by Jacksonville and Gross followed that up with a three of his own. The Dolphins kept the Hatters from pulling away answering each basket to stay one point behind before eventually tying the game back up at 32. Who else would answer the call for Stetson but Swenson who swished in another shot from beyond the arc to push the Hatters back out to the lead. With just over a minute left in the first half Jacksonville made it 41-40. Stetson ended the half on a 7-0 run that was capped off with an Alec Oglesby three near the logo as time expired. 
 
Gateretse started the scoring for the Hatters with a layup giving them a 50-40 lead. After that layup though Jacksonville went on an 18-3 scoring run putting the Hatters behind by five. The Dolphins opened their lead to nine with Stetson still fighting to real them back in. Swenson hit another three with just over 10 minutes left to bring the Hatters to within four. Jacksonville went back up by seven. Jalen Blackmon was able to drive into the paint and lobbed one up for Gateretse who was able to contort his body in order to slam the ball home through the contact but didn't draw a foul call. Blackmon then brought the Hatters within three on a jumper with just over eight minutes left. The Dolphins answered with a run of their own increasing their lead to their largest of the game of ten. Head Coach Donnie Jones called a timeout and coming out of timeout Swenson showed he was locked in. He started by draining a three, making it 70-77. After Oglesby drew an offensive foul, Swenson drove the line and banked a layup in to put the Hatters down five. On the next possession the Dolphins hit two free throws, but Swenson stayed calm and hit another three making it a four-point game. Jacksonville answered with a layup, but Swenson was able to find Oglesby in the corner for a three making it 78-81. You could feel the tension building as fans of both teams were on their feet. The Dolphins went 1-2 from the free throw line and this time Blackmon found his way into the paint and hit the layup to make it a two-point game. After free throws Jacksonville sat up six with 33 seconds left. Twelve seconds later Swenson made it a one-point game shooting the three and draining it. Stetson intentionally fouled and the Dolphins missed one of the two free throws giving the Hatters a chance to tie and send the game to overtime or win the game. Stetson was out of timeouts meaning that they had to go the entirety of the floor set up their offense and score in 16 seconds. With no pressure from the Dolphins Swenson was able to let the ball roll until just before the logo. He picked it up dribbled while staring down his defender. He jabbed like he was going to sprint down the lane but instead stepped back and rained down the three to give Stetson the 88-87 lead. With 4.3 seconds left the Hatters had to play defense superb defense without committing a foul to keep their Championship hopes alive. McCray V of the Dolphins dribbled down the court and pulled up from three getting the shot off in time, but his shot missed and the Edmunds Center went into a frenzy. 
 
Swenson finished the game with 29 points going 11-17 from the field, and 7-9 from three. In the last five minutes of the game, he did not miss a single shot. Swenson also grabbed four rebounds and dished out six assists. Gateretse tallied 23 points before fouling out. He shot 9-10 from the field and 5-11 from the free throw line while also adding six rebounds. Gross was a key contributor of this game that some may overlook with how the game ended. He hit all four of his three-point attempts in the first half totaling 14 points on the night. As a team, the Hatters shot 58% from the field, 59.1% from three and 65% from the free throw line. 
 
Stetson will now regroup and prepare for the ASUN Championship game on Sunday, March 10. Tip-off will be inside the Edmunds Center at 2pm and if you can't make the trip to DeLand, make sure to watch the game on ESPN2.