LAKELAND, Fla. — Brady Corso scored 22 of his team-high 23 points in the first half and made six 3-pointers to lead the RV Florida Southern College men's basketball team to a 94-72 win over Tuskegee on Friday night at Jenkins Field House.
"Good win for us tonight," stated Mocs' head coach Mike Donnelly. "We played with more focus and purpose defensively and did a pretty good job on the glass against a good rebounding team. We had solid contributions from a lot of guys and loved the production our bench provided."
The Moccasins (2-1) made 12 of 20 attempts from beyond the arc in the first half and finished 14 of 30. Khalil Ross scored 13 points off the bench, and Charlie Dalton added 12 on 3-of-4 shooting from the field and a 6-for-6 effort at the free-throw line.
Tuskegee opened with a 4-0 lead behind Roy Obsaint and went up 6-2 on a Noah Goines dunk. Starrell Hearns answered with a 3-pointer, and Dalton followed with a layup to give Florida Southern its first lead at 7-6. The teams traded leads before Ameer Ramadan sank a 3-pointer to put the Moccasins ahead 17-15 with 11:39 left in the first half.
After Khalil Genwright tied the game at 23 with a free throw, Corso hit three 3-pointers on consecutive Florida Southern scoring possessions in a span of 2 minutes to put the Mocs ahead 32-23. The Mocs stretched the lead with a 9-0 run that included 3-pointers from Khalil Ross, Corso and Hearns. Hearns' second 3-pointer of the half made it 49-30 with 1:48 remaining, and Corso added two free throws in the final minute to send Florida Southern into halftime ahead 51-33.
Tuskegee trimmed the deficit to 16 on a pair of Genwright free throws with 10:41 remaining. Dalton answered with two free throws, and Ramadan buried his third 3-pointer of the night to make it 73-52 with 9:05 to play. Ramadan finished with nine points and a game-high five assists.
Brady Barnes, Damien Ross, and AJ Trimboli made their Moccasin debuts. Barnes knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:53 remaining, and Damien Ross finished with three rebounds and a tip-in that gave Florida Southern its largest lead at 94-69 with 1:20 to play. Trimboli grabbed one rebound.
Florida Southern outrebounded Tuskegee 41-35 and held a 40-4 advantage in bench points.
Up next, the Mocs host Fort Valley State on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. at George W. Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Fla.
