Booth

RIMERSBURG — Scott Booth recently reached the 1,000-point milestone for the Union boys basketball team.

The bad news for the rest of District 9?

He's only a junior.

In a 61-58 home win over Karns City last Friday, Booth led the Golden Knights with 35 points, giving him 1,001 for his career.

He had 999 points before hitting two free throws in the fourth quarter.

The game was stopped and, fittingly, it was Kyle Hilliard who presented the game ball to Booth.

A 2006 Union graduate, Hilliard was the last Knight to get to 1,000 points before Booth.

"Kyle comes to a lot of our games and he's always giving me advice," said Booth. "He likes the way I play."

The victory over KC marked the fourth time this season Booth has scored 30 points in a single game. His career high is 37 points, which came in a game at North Clarion earlier this season.

Booth, who lives in Sligo, began starting halfway through his freshman campaign in the winter of 2006-07.

During that season and for much of his junior year, he played in the backcourt.

He averaged 19 points per game last season, earning a spot on the first team of the Butler Eagle All-Star squad.

"After last year, I was at the District 9 banquet and learned that I had 627 career points," said Booth. "Everybody started telling me that I was going to get to 1,000. I got pretty excited about it. But I figured when it happens, it happens."

Union coach Karen Davis needed height in the frontcourt this season and, with Booth being the second tallest player on the team at 6-feet-1, she moved him to forward.

"He's done a great job inside for us this year," said Davis.

But Booth still has his outside shot to fall back on and he's used it in putting up 23.4 points per game so far along with 7.4 rebounds.

"His improvement has a lot to do with maturity in his game," Davis added. "Things like pulling up for a jump shot instead of creating something that's not there."

"I have to credit my teammates for getting me the ball," said Booth. "When I flash to the middle, 75 percent of the time, they get it to me."

Booth will certainly add to his all-star accolades after the season is over, but he's focused on something else.

"Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to win a championship," he said. "That's something I've always looked forward to."

The Golden Knights are poised to make a playoff run with a KSAC South record of 9-4 and 10-6 overall entering tonight's contest at West Forest.