DAYTONA BEACH — Stephan Swanson outstretched his arms and looked helplessly toward the sky after watching his 3-point attempt swish through the net at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.
The shot left his hand just a split second after an official called a foul under the basket, negating the three points.
Just a few seconds of game time later, Swanson dished to an open Jalen Blackmon who knocked down his own 3 from the left wing, extending the Hatters’ second-half lead to eight points.
It was emblematic of the team’s two-day run to an Ocean Bracket championship in the Sunshine Slam on Monday and Tuesday: The Hatters were there to pick each other up.
SUNSHINE SLAM DAY 1:Stetson cruises past Milwaukee, Florida State beats UNLV
And so it was on Tuesday as Stetson (3-2) used a 15-2, first-half-closing run to seize control and held off Central Michigan after the break in earning a 71-61 victory and a little hardware to boot. Blackmon, who scored a game-high 20 points after a 22-point performance in Monday’s semifinal win over Milwaukee, was named the bracket’s MVP.
Swenson, who was 0 for 19 for the season from distance at the time of his make that didn’t count, would eventually get his first 3-pointer of the season but more importantly, his first tournament trophy in his fourth year at Stetson. Afterward, that was by far the most important thing.
“It means everything … It took us three long years to get at least one (tournament title) for coach (Donnie) Jones,” Swenson said. “We want to play up to our level, the level of greatness we want to reach. So, it was cool to play some really good teams and come up with the win.”
Over the course of two days, there were some great aspects to point out in Stetson’s play.
First was unselfishness. Across the two wins, the Hatters (3-2) registered assists on 37 of 60 made field goals. Swenson, the team’s senior point guard, was the leader of that effort, following up Monday’s 10-assist performance with eight more helpers against the Chippewas.
“That’s huge,” Jones said. “That’s what we preach, that’s what we talk about. We’ve got more than one or two guys that can score. I think you’ve just got to take what the defense gives you and you’re really hard to defend when you play that way.”
The Hatters were efficient, shooting 55% from the field in Monday’s 85-67 conquest of the Panthers and making 27 of 53 shots (50.9%) against CMU on Tuesday. They combined to outrebound Milwaukee and the Chippewas 76-68 and never trailed in either second half, despite Central Michigan twice cutting a 37-24 spread to five points.
Early season tournament aside, the two wins were a nice momentum boost after Stetson was beaten soundly by UNLV (71-55) and No. 6 Houston (79-48) on a western swing Nov. 11 and 13th. The road won’t get easier anytime soon, beginning with a short venture west to UCF on Sunday.
“We just have to remember what got us here,” Swenson said. “We’ve just got to keep getting better at what we do.”
Certainly, there seems to have been some improvement already. Aubin Gateretse, a 6-foot-11 junior center, wowed on Monday with 26 points and 11 rebounds and alongside fellow near-7-foot Minnesota transfer Treyton Thompson, gives the Hatters a formidable big lineup should Jones choose to employ it. On Monday, wingman Tristan Gross scored 11 points and on Tuesday, it was Alec Oglesby knocking down key shots from the perimeter as he scored 14 including 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
And at some point, there’s hope that the roster will be bolstered by the returns of 6-9 senior forward Josh Smith and guard Cyncier Harrison, both of whom were projected starters before the season but are out with injuries. Jones said on Monday that the hope was for Smith to return sometime around the beginning of A-SUN conference play. He added that there was no immediate timetable for Harrison’s return.
For a program coming off of a CBI appearance, just the second postseason appearance in program history, and one shouldering some bigger preseason expectations after being voted to finish third in the league’s preseason coaches poll, the two-day, two-game streak was a nice reprieve after a tough start.
And hey, who doesn’t like a championship?
“That’s why you play in these, you get a chance to get experience,” Jones said. “It was important for us to be able to put two games together. Obviously, we played well yesterday but to be able to do it again in less than 24 hours, I thought it showed a lot of character from our team.”
Swenson finished with 18 points on Tuesday with Gateretse adding eight points and nine rebounds. Brian Taylor paced the Chippewas (2-4) with 21 points with Markus Harding contributing 17.
The consolation game of the Ocean Bracket was slated for later on Tuesday night with Milwaukee and Siena slated to play after press time.
Beach Bracket championship: Florida State 77, No. 18 Colorado 71 OT
Four Seminoles scored as part of a 9-0 spurt to open overtime as Florida State eked out a win in the Beach Bracket championship game.
FSU (4-1) lead by as many as 10 at 47-37 in the second half after a 3-pointer from Darin Green Jr. with 13:44 remaining. The Buffaloes (4-1) quickly responded, however, going on an immediate 10-0 run to tie the score. Colorado took a 3-point lead with a 3 from Julian Hammond III with 2:51 remaining but a jumper from Jamir Watkins and a free throw from Jalen Warley evened things up for Florida State at 60 and that’s how the teams went into the extra period.
Warley hit a jumper to put FSU up 62-60 and was followed by a Baba Miller dunk in transition. Chandler Jackson then swished a pair of free throws and by the time Green Jr. hit another 3 the ‘Noles were suddenly leading by nine at 69-60 and were able to guide things home from there.
Warley led all scorers with 19 points with Watkins pitching in 18, Green Jr. 12 and De’Ante Green 10 for the Seminoles. Watkins also pulled down 12 rebounds.
Cody Williams led Colorado with 17 points and KJ Simpson scored 15.
