The Stetson Basketball Club traveled to Georgia Southern to
compete in the NCCS Regional Basketball Tournament. Stetson was slotted to play
in Pool B with Savannah State and Howard University. In their first game of
pool play, Stetson was matched against Savannah State. The game was tied late
at 42-42 until Troy Hagan forced a turnover at half court and got fouled on the
lay-up attempt. With just 4.0 seconds left on the clock, Hagan made 1-2 free
throws to give Stetson the 43-42 victory. Diego Morales was the player of the
game scoring 12 points and having 6 assists. Two other Hatters, Spence Purnell
and Vito Swarzak, scored 10 points apiece in the victory over Savannah
State. In their second game of pool play
Stetson faced off against Howard University. Howard started the game strong
building up at 14 point lead at halftime. With two minutes left, Stetson was
able to cut the lead down to 4 points with a 3-point shot made by Purnell, but
that would be the closest Stetson came. Purnell finished the game with 18
points to lead the Hatters, followed by Swarzak with 13. Shane Scovil helped on
the defensive end by recording 4 blocks in the game.
At the end of pool play, Stetson was 1-1 and qualified for the playoff
bracket of the NCCS Regional and saw the Seahawks of UNC-Wilmington in the
first round of play. The Seahawks ran away with the game by building a sizable
first half lead and coasting in the second half for an easy 53-36 victory,
ending the Hatters tournament hopes. In the game, Purnell scored 23 points and
recorded 8 rebounds. Purnell was the 6th leading scorer of the entire tournament,
averaging 17 points per game. In addition to scoring Purnell also averaged 6
rebounds and 2 steals per game, which helped him earn all-tournament honors.
Swarzak averaged 10 points per game for the Hatters, Morales averaged 6 points
per game and 5 assists per game, and Shane Scovil added 2 blocks per game for
the Hatters. The Hatters return to action in the Swamp Shootout in Gainesville,
Florida March 15th through 17th.