Sunday, December 21, 2014

Claflin men defeat Florida Tech, 85-66

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- Florida Tech (9-2) was unable to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit on the road Saturday afternoon, falling 85-66 to Claflin (3-6) at Tullis Arena. 

Claflin held the Panthers to a season-low 38.2 field goal percentage and an 18.8 three-point percentage. Coincidentally, the opposition shot the best an opponent has on the Panthers this season, connecting on 56.9-percent. Claflin also hit 5-of-13 from long distance, while holding FIT to 3-of-16 from three-point range.

Chris Carter paced all scorers with a season-high 27 points, 13 were earned from the free throw line. Jermaine Jackson finished with 16. Claflin surrendered only seven points to Corbin Jackson, who entered the game averaging just over 15 points. Defensively, Jackson totaled five blocks, one off his season-high.

“Hats off to (head coach) Ricky Jackson and his staff,” head coach Billy Mims said. “They had a great game plan. They exposed a lot of our weaknesses today. They did a great job taking away things we like to do and they forced us to do things we don’t like to do. They played harder and smarter than we did.”

Trailing by 17 points with 16:07 remaining, FIT trimmed its deficit to nine in less than three minutes following a three-point play by Jermaine Jackson. However, Claflin’s Fare’al Walker pushed his team’s lead back to double figures with a layup at the 12:53 mark.

Claflin never let up the rest of the game, winning by 19 points for its third win. Adolph Caldwell scored a team-high 21 points. Walker led all rebounders with 12 and he helped his team outrebound FIT 40-30. Claflin also won points in the paint, 42-30, and bench scoring, 39-4.

The Panthers will have a 10-day break before they take on Stetson on Dec. 30 at 1 p.m. in DeLand. The game is an exhibition contest for the Panthers and a regular-season match-up for the Hatters.

The game will be carried on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. FIT fans can also tune into Jim Mitchell’s audio broadcast at FloridaTechSports.com/live.


COURTESY FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS

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