Florida State University Athletics
Men’s Basketball Falls To Stetson, 83-74
11/7/2022 9:23:27 PM | Men's Basketball
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Luke Brown scored 27 points on seven made 3-point shots to lead Stetson to an 83-74 win over Florida State at the Donald L. Tucker Center in the season opener for both teams. Brown totaled 20 points in the first half as the visiting Hatters led by 18 before halftime and held a 44-37 lead at the intermission. The Seminoles fought valiantly, and trailed by only three with 4:40 remaining, but Stetson outscored Florida State 15-9 to close the game.
Sophomore Matthew Cleveland led three Seminoles in double figures with 16 points. Junior Cam’Ron Fletcher led Florida State with nine rebounds.
The Seminoles mounted an impressive comeback after trailing by 18 in the first half. After a 3-point shot Cyncier Harrison put Stetson up by a 34-16 margin with 7:13 remaining before intermission, the Seminoles went on a 21-10 run to close the half to pull within 44-27 at halftime.
Freshman guard Tom House led the Seminoles with nine points and four rebounds in the first half. House enjoyed a perfect half in his Seminole debut, shooting two for two from the paint, three for three from the 3-point line, and three for three on free throws.
Freshman forward Cameron Corhen began his collegiate career as he scored 10 points in 20 minutes of playing time. He made four of his five field goal attempts in his debut.
“We had some moments where I thought we showed some light,” said Head Coach Leonard Hamilton. “I think it was the fact that you don’t ever want to say inexperienced, but this is probably the most inexperienced team we’ve had. Defensively on rebounds, I thought we had a lot of game slippage. Offensively, we aren’t that well-oiled machine that I had hoped we would be this early in the season.”
Caleb Mills enjoyed a strong start his junior season as he scored 12 points and pulled down three rebounds. He shot five for 11 from the floor and made two of four free throws.
“I didn’t see anything that was not fixable,” said Hamilton. “Hopefully, we will learn that every team that we play will be giving it their very best. This will be an adjustment for a lot of our players. Our players are standing on the shoulders of guys who have established some solid play, a legacy, a system of executing, offensively and defensively, they can grow into and learn to appreciate.”
Florida State travels to Orlando to face UCF on Friday, November 11th with tip off at 7 p.m. The Seminoles return to the Donald L. Tucker Center on Monday, November 14th to face off against Troy University with a 7 p.m. start.
Hamilton remained hopeful in his final words to the press: “You’ve got to be hopeful that the lack of things that we did not execute tonight, that we will learn this from and be much better prepared when we go down to Central Florida on Friday night.”