FINAL SCORE: UM: 79 STETSON: 65
Julian Gamble adds a free throw (and misses one too) to make that ten Hurricanes with points. Not a dominant performance, but not a bad one either. Stay tuned for post-game coverage!
2:36/2nd Half: UM: 76 STETSON: 60
McClinton adds two more free throws and has all of his 12 points in the second half. This one should be over. Diaz is an ugly 0 for 10 from the field for Stetson after chucking up yet another airball.
3:20/2nd Half: UM: 74 STETSON: 56
What did you expect? Obviously Captain Jack hits all three, right?
3:26/2nd Half: UM: 71 STETSON: 56
McClinton gets fouled shooting a three-pointer and will be at the line for three attempts when the time-out is over.
4:20/2nd Half: UM: 71 STETSON: 56
When the lead is small/
and you're strugglin' hard/
who you gonna call?/
LANCE HURDLE!
The point guard hits a three pointer and gets fouled but misses the free throw for the potential four-point play. Jack McClinton adds a long two-pointer, and the Canes are up 15 again.
5:45/2nd Half: UM: 66 STETSON: 54
Kris Thomas hits another three-pointer to cut the lead to 12. McClinton's only got five points on the night, but luckily frontcourt starters McGowan and Collins have combined for 26 so far tonight.
7:15/2nd Half: UM: 66 STETSON: 51
Jimmy Graham misses two free throws, but the Franchise (DqJ) grabs an offensive rebound and dishes it to Jimmy, who makes up for the two misses with a lay-up. The Hatters have stayed in this one all night, give them credit.
8:19/2nd Half: UM: 64 STETSON: 49
Asbury hits two free throws (shooting over 90% on the year from the line) and Collins is subbed out after a monster bucket of his own. The Haters follow up the little run by the Canes with a three-pointer by Kris Thomas, but McClinton answers with a jumper.
10:32/2nd Half: UM: 58 STETSON: 46
Asbury and Blair exchange buckets in each other's faces, but the Hatters hit another three after the exchange and keep the lead at 12. Just put this one away already!
11:56/2nd Half: UM: 54 STETSON: 41
Cyrus has gotta start making more free throws - goes 1 of 2 from the line once again, that's thre misses on the day. The inside players are doing decently well for the Canes today - Cyrus has a career high 14, Dwayne has 8, Jimmy's got 6. Someone's gotta step up and put this game out of Stetson's reach, though.
14:30/2nd Half: UM: 51 STETSON: 41
I don't like this. The Canes need to start running away with this one, they're letting the Hatters stay in this one, and with a guy like Blair, the Hatters can easily start on a tear. Back to back three-pointers for the Hatters.
15:10/2nd Half: UM: 47 STETSON: 35
Another time-out on the floor. Not a bad job by the WVUM commentators today, I'm pretty content with the commentating. 207 games in a row for the Canes with a made three-pointer? Bet you didn't know that.
15:41/2nd Half: UM: 46 STETSON: 33
Lance Hurdle darts for an and-one opportunity after a lay-up and will be at the line once the television timeout finishes.
17:20/2nd Half: UM: 44 STETSON: 31
Jack hits a three-pointer to finally get on the board, but Blair hit another shot before it to up his total to 19. Can someone try and stop this guy?
19:45/2nd Half: UM: 37 STETSON: 27
Blair scores on an easy bucket past Dews, the Canes commit a turnover, and Stetson cuts the lead to 10 with momentum. Way to come out of the gates strong, guys.
Halftime Score/Thougts: UM: 37 STETSON: 25
Cyrus has another 1 for 2 performance from the line, but the Canes end the game pretty slowly and are up double-digits going into the locker room.
Miami is shooting a whopping 60% from the field against Stetson and are only up 12. They let Garfield Blair take over the game for the Hatters in the early to middle stages, and his 15 points are carrying Stetson to a game thats a lot closer than it should be, given the percentages. The Canes are definitely going to need to cut down on turnovers (11).
Is a twelve-point halftime lead a bad thing? No, not usually, but against a relatively weak team like Stetson, Miami needs to step it up in the second half. McGowan (9) and Dews (8) are bright spots for the Canes, and so is Eddie Rios (two three-pointers), but what about the second unit - Asbury, Graham, DeQuan? Two points apiece against Stetson? Come on guys, let's go.
Jack had a bad first half for the second game in a row but only had two field goal attempts total. I'm sure he'll have some points by the end of the game. The Canes need to keep shooting well but cut the the offensive fouls and turnovers. Yeah, the Canes should pull this one out, but let's hope for a better second half all around.
3:16/1st Half: UM: 36 STETSON: 23
Sloppy ending to the first half on both sides. The Canes turn the ball over, the Hatters return the favor with an offensive foul, but Cyrus gives the inbound pass away. Blair's got 15 points for the Hatters and is the game's leading scorer.
4:52/1st Half: UM: 36 STETSON: 20
DeQuan Jones adds his first two points of the game, and the Canes already have eight players with points and none of them have the last name "McClinton". Pretty impressive wide-range of scoring for the Canes, a repeat performance of the finale against USD where nine players scored in the first half.
6:12/1st Half: UM: 34 STETSON: 20
Jack McClinton's off to another slow start (zero points), but James Dews certainly isn't. Adds another bucket (eight points), and the Canes are now shooting over 70% from the field.
7:21/1st Half: UM: 30 STETSON: 16
Dwayne Collins drops a one-handed reverse dunk, Eddie Rios adds two three-pointers on back to back Canes possessions, Asbury hits a bucket, and just like that, the Canes are up by fourteen. Three-point shooting is on (5 for 7) for the Canes in the early going today!
9:46/1st Half: UM: 20 STETSON: 16
Blair adds two free throws, and becomes the first player in double figures on either team.
10:22/1st Half: UM: 20 STETSON: 14
Garfield Blair is eating the Canes alive on the perimeter. He's got nine points of his own after adding his second three-pointer on the last Hatter possession.
11:01/1st Half: UM: 20 STETSON: 11
James Dews adds his second three-pointer of the day to increase the Canes lead to nine. Let's hope the Canes junior keeps shooting and hitting, it would be great to head into the week with Dews coming off a big game. Miami currently on a 9-0 run. Cyrus has eight points, Dews has six, Collins has four, Hurdle has two. McClinton's the only starter with zero points.
12:30/1st Half: UM: 17 STETSON: 11
Cyrus hits one of two from the line but adds a two-handed jam on the next trip down the court. The Canes stop the Hatters once again and McGowan adds another bucket, this time a three-pointer. Cyrus the Virus is on fire.
13:54/1st Half: UM: 11 STETSON: 11
Five team fouls on Miami already and Stetson ties the game with a three-pointer. The Canes really have to get going here, they don't want the Hatters sticking around for the whole game.
15:36/1st Half: UM: 11 STETSON: 8
Another offensive foul after the TV Timeout, this time on Brian Asbury.
15:53/1st Half: UM: 11 STETSON: 8
James Dews answers a Garfield three-pointer with one of his own. Love to see that out of the junior, hopefully he can get this next week started with a huge game this afternoon. Canes have a couple offensive fouls early on.
17:53/1st Half: UM: 8 STETSON: 5
Lance Hurdle hits both his free throws after another Dwayne Collins jumper on the previous possession and the Canes up their lead to three.
19:01/1st Half: UM: 4 STETSON: 2
Game's a post match-up so far as all six points have been scored by the big men - Cyrus has a bucket and Dwayne has two made free throws. Continued impressive free throw shooting for the big man.
3:28 PM: Lance Hurdle gets the start at point guard for the Hurricanes over Eddie Rios after a great Paradise Jam tournament. I expect Hurdle starting to remain the status quo for the remainder of the season. James Dews is starting today, along with Jack McClinton, Dwayne Collins and Cyrus McGowan.
3:10 PM: It looks like its officially basketball season now. Jacory throws a pick that pretty much ends the last game of the season against N.C. State. Off to the Sears Toilet Bowl for the Hurricane Football Team, who wrap up the year at 7-5.
2:53 PM: The Canes take on an upstart Stetson Hatters squad today with tip-off scheduled for 3:30 PM. A week ago, the Hatters barely lost to Florida State (79-77), a team projected to finish in the top half of the ACC. They lost by 30 to #8 Texas in their very first game (68-38), but are currently 2-2 on the season.
This isn't a throwaway game for the Canes. Stetson returns most of their top scorers from 2007-2008 when they went 16-16, including seniors Garfield Blair (16.1 PPG) and Kris Thomas (7.4 PPG), as well as junior A.J. Smith (11.4 PPG). It will once again be interesting to see how Frank Haith divides his minutes before a huge upcoming week with matches against Ohio State and Kentucky.
Will Coach Haith try and give Dews another opportunity to find himself against weaker competition? Will he keep his frontcourt on a constant rotation of Dwayne, Cyrus and Jimmy? What about freshman DeQuan Jones - what role will he play? The Canes should win this game without very much difficulty, but that's not what you should be looking at; let's see how Haith manages this one.
