Garfield Blair scored a game-high 21 points in leading Stetson to a 72-64 win vs USC Upstate on the Atlantic Sun CSS Game of the Week. Courtesy GoHatters.com
Date Posted: 2/8/2008
DeLand, Fla. – Friday night in the Edmunds Center Orlando’s Garfield Blair (Boone HS) scored a game-high 21 points and the Stetson Hatters fended off a late rally for a 72-64 win over conference foe USC Upstate.
The Hatters exploded out of the gate with an impressive 19-2 run over the Spartans and led by as many as 22 points in the first half. Blair led the way with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field. Point guard A.J. Smith (Cocoa, Fla./Cocoa HS) was right there with him, shooting 3-of-4 from the field including a pair of 3-pointers. Smith also dished out four assists to spark the run. Stetson carried all the momentum and a 38-18 lead into the half.
Coming out in the second Stetson pushed the lead up to 25 points when Smith knocked down a 3-pointer at 17:19. When the lead was still 20 with 8:13 on the clock, it looked like the Hatters would finally have a run away victory. However, the Spartans were not done.
Fifteen seconds later Upstate’s Josh Chavis (Greensboro, NC) hit a shot from beyond the arc that boosted the Spartans’ confidence. Five minutes later, and with just 2:46 remaining in regulation, Luke Payne (Spartanburg, SC) hit a layup to complete the 19-3 Upstate run and leave them four points down on the scoreboard.
