Stetson is slightly less talented than we our, but they have better team unity. Being at home, I expect us to pull out a win here. We have to stop their SG Kris thomas who is a talented senior.
It was a sedate first half until about 9 minutes left when they started pressing and running. As a result, we both jacked up our offensive tempo and it became a high scoring half. Verner and Czepil took over down the stretch of the 1st half and pushed us to a 45-41 lead.
Czepil is the player of the half. He has 13 points on 4 of 4 shooting, 3 of 3 behind the arc, and 2 of 2 from the line. Verner and Bathie each have 8.
A crazy ending to this game. We were up 80-76 with 55 seconds to go, but a careless pass led to a turnover and a quick 3 with 42 seconds left.
We worked the ball around the court until 2 seconds left on our next possession, but Bathie missed a 3. That gave them the ball with 7 seconds and they raced down the court, threw a cross court pass into the right corner and their star SG drilled the 3 for the win as the buzzer expired. 82-80 loss
Thomas hit the game winner and was the player of the game. He finished with 25 points as he was only 3 of 9 from the arc but 10 of 19 overall. He was aided by PG Brandon Williams who had 16 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals.
We wasted a masterful performance by Czepil off the bench who had 27 points, 3 boards, and 2 assists on 9 of 12 shooting including 7 of 8 behind the arc in just 22 minutes.
Verner had 15, Bathie 10, and Johnson 7 to round out our top scorers.
That loss drops us to 7-7.