Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville's Josh Adeyeye scored a career-high 24 points, including six three-pointers in the second half alone, to lead the Dolphins to a 71-69 Atlantic Sun Conference win over Stetson at Swisher Gym Wednesday.
Jacksonville (7-12, 1-1) spent most of the game playing catch up and didn't have a field goal for the first 5:19 of the second half until Adeyeye, a junior from Fayetteville, N.C., put an end to a 10-1 Stetson run with his first three-pointer of the half.
"That (playing catch up) wasn't by design,'' JU coach Tony Jasick said. "We competed and sometimes in the past we wouldn't have showed that toughness. Our guys did a good job of staying the course.''
Adeyeye followed with a pair more and the Dolphins, took their first lead of the second half at 52-50 with 9:17 to play when he connected from the wing.
He put the Dolphins ahead for good with another three-pointer at the 8:18 mark, 55-52. He ended the game with seven from three-point land, the first time that has happened since Ben Smith did it on Feb. 27, 2010.
"He got it going tonight, didn't he?'' Jasick said of Adeyeye. "He can shoot it. It's been a little up and down for him.''
The Dolphins led 69-63 with three minutes to play when Adeyeye had a three-point play with a field goal and free throw, but Stetson (5-12, 0-2) fought back and wasn't out of it until JU's Andris Misters made a pair of free throws for a 71-67 edge with 13.2 seconds to play.
"(Playing catch up) wasn't by design,'' Jasick said. "We competed and sometimes in the past we wouldn't have showed that toughness. Our guys did a good job of staying the course.''
"I wanted to make sure in the second half I turned it up a little and give my teammates a little assist down the floor,'' Adeyeye said. "It's always special when it happens and it's a different feeling, especially when you're in that zone and you're able to hit those shots.''
JU's Kori Babineaux had his 10th consecutive double-digit game with 13 points and Misters had 12. Stetson's Kentwan Smith had a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Hatters and teammate Cameron Harvey had 16.
The first half was a high-energy affair that saw Stetson pull to various leads and the Dolphins working to erase them.
The Hatters got out to an 8-2 lead before JU sophomore forward Marcel White led a charge that ended with Adeyeye hitting a three-point shot giving the Dolphins their first lead, 15-14, with 11:48 to play in the half.
The lead then changed hands four times in less than two minutes before Stetson moved to a 26-19 lead as Smith led an 8-2 run.
JU's Shea Jones (Weston, Fla.) and Misters led the Dolphins back to a tie at 33 when sophomore J.R. Holder put home a raucous slam off a steal. The Dolphins led at the half, 36-33, as the Dolphins got 18 points off the bench.
The Dolphins return to action on Saturday at Florida Gulf Coast in a 7pm contest.
