Florida Gators
Stetson
Men's Hoops Defeats Stetson 74-61
Saturday, December 6, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Anthony Roberson and David Lee combined for 34 points as the Gators defeated the Stetson Hatters 74-61 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Saturday afternoon.
"I think [Florida players] are very talented, but are still young," said Stetson Head Coach Derek Waugh. "Chemistry takes a while. They've got good players and seem to play hard and get it done."
Roberson led all scorers and Lee continued his hot shooting streak, hitting 7-of-9. Lee is now shooting .643 on the season.
"We got up and down the floor quite a bit tonight, so it was a high intensity game," said Lee. "I think the team is taking steps in the right direction right now."
Both teams started slow. Neither team scored for the first two minutes of the game. Florida went into intermission with a 12 point lead after not allowing Stetson to score for the last 3:39 on the half.
In the second, Florida's defense held the Hatters without a field goal for 5:16 in the middle of the second half. During that time Florida went on a 11-2 run in which Rashid Al-Kaleem scored eight of Florida's points. Al-Kaleen made a season-high eight points on 2-for-3 shooting from the field and 2-for-3 from the line.
Florida pulled down 44 rebounds and had 20 assists on the afternoon. Their 32 defensive rebounds exceeded Stetson's total rebounds (31) in the game. Matt Walsh had a season-high seven rebounds and also dished out a season-high eight assists, just one under his career high.
"I think a couple of things I wanted to work on after Arizona was defense and rebounding," said Donovan. "I put a lot of pressure on them tonight. I think we are moving in the right direction."
The Gators have won their last 21 games against teams from the state of Florida. They also ran their home non-conference winning streak to 40 games dating back to 1998.
Florida hosts No. 25 Maryland in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Wednesday night. The game with be broadcast on ESPN at 7:00 p.m.
