Booth Eclipses 1,000 Points at Florida Southern; #24/16 Mocs Hold off Panthers

LAKELAND, Fla.  – No. 24/16 Florida Southern holds off Clark Atlanta 82-75 to open the Century Retail Thanksgiving Classic Friday night at the Streamline Sale Court inside the George W. Jenkins Field House.

"I know we can still play a lot better," Head Coach Mike Donnelly said after the win. "But, I am happy with tonight's win. Our bench gave us a huge lift. Amare (Miller) played very well, and Hugo (Mattioli) knocked down four big three-point shots in the second half. We have a quick turnaround to prepare for a good Morehouse team tomorrow night."
 
Florida Southern's (6-2) Jadin Booth went over 1,000 career points in the Red and White after leading all scorers with 22 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. He made five threes' while adding a 5-for-7 night from the free throw line. In the win, he dished out five assists and had three steals, two blocks, and two rebounds. Booth becomes just the 47th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points while donning the Moccasins jersey, joining his former teammates Luke Anderson (2022-2024, 1,224 points) and E.J. Dambreville (2019-2023, 1,533 points).¹ Booth will continue the season with 1,113 career points in total with time at Omaha Nebraska and Florida Southern, while his mark for the Mocs is at 1,012 and counting. 

"Very happy for Jadin (Booth)," Donnelly stated. "He has had a terrific career here at Florida Southern and now his name belongs in the record book, breaking 1,000 career points tonight. He's a special player."
 
Amare Miller joined in the double-figure performances with 16 points in 23 minutes of action while securing six rebounds, second to Peyton Gerald's team-high 11 boards. Hugo Mattioli was the only other Moc in double-figures adding 12 points in 16 minutes on a 4-for-7 night from beyond the arc.
 
Clark Atlanta (2-4) had four players in double-digits with a pair of players, Martez Jones and Dez'Mond Perkins each scoring 12, and a pair at 11 points in Shemani Fuller and Xavier Griffith. Jones completed his double-double grabbing a game-high 12 boards.
 
Florida Southern started fast with a 6-0 run and pushed it to a 10-point game, 14-4, in the first 4:44 of the game. A three-possession game would quickly evaporate to a one-possession game after Clark Atlanta rallied to close the gap to 23-20 with 7:14 to play.
 
After tying it at 25 all with 5:09 to go in the opening frame, the Mocs got breathing room pushing their lead back to double-digits with under a minute to play, 39-29, before carrying a 41-31 lead into the break.
 
The Panthers opened the second half and closed the gap to just four points, 54-50, over the first roughly seven minutes in the second half before Amare Miller slammed one home followed by an Alex Steen layup to push it back to eight, 58-50.
 
Hugo Mattioli caught fire over six minutes draining four of five straight three-point attempts to give Florida Southern a 15-point lead with 5:47 to play, 76-61. A tenacious Panthers team would continue to fight and cut it to seven points over the next four minutes capped with a three from Ny'mire Little (80-73, 1:47).
 
Roderick Jones would convert a layup to make it five points, 80-75 with 47-ticks left, but Jadin Booth sealed it with a pair of free throws at the 28-second mark before Florida Southern's Alex Steen and Peyton Gerald protected the rim with Steen's block and Gerald's rebound to finish off the last 16 seconds for the 82-75 win.  
 
No. 24/16 Florida Southern remains home to close out the Century Retail Thanksgiving Classic at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against Morehouse (2-4), who opened the classic with an 83-76 win over Saint Leo Friday evening.