No. 24 Florida State survives against No. 12 North Carolina
Braian Angola scored 20 points and C.J. Walker added 18 as 24th-ranked Florida State held off No. 12 North Carolina for an 81-80 victory on Wednesday night.
The Seminoles (12-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) led most of the game but almost squandered it as they didn’t make a field goal in the last 2:57 and missed their last four free throws.
They were up 81-77 on Angola’s free throw before Joel Berry II made a 3-pointer off a turnover to bring the Tar Heels within 81-80 with 30 seconds remaining. After Phil Cofer missed both free throws, North Carolina (12-3, 1-1) had a chance to win. Berry drove the lane and missed a jumper which was rebounded by Terance Mann. Mann missed his free throws with 1.7 seconds remaining but North Carolina’s last second desperation 3 was no good, allowing Florida State to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Tar Heels.
Mann added 17 points and nine rebounds as Florida State extended its home winning streak to 28, which is currently the thirdlongest in Division I.
Berry led the Tar Heels with 28 points and Williams added 18.
North Carolina trailed by 11 at halftime but would rally back to tie it at 58 with a 14-2 run that featured five Florida State turnovers. The Tar Heels took a 65-63 lead on a dunk by Theo Pinson before the Seminoles regained the lead with a 13-2 run.
The game was close for the first 8 minutes before Florida State went on an 11-2 run to take a 31-18 lead with 9:49 remaining. Walker scored the first eight points during the run, including two 3-pointers.
North Carolina answered with its own run to get within 34-31 before Florida State scored eight straight points to push the lead back into double digits. The Seminoles would lead 51-40 at halftime.
NO. 13 PURDUE 82, RUTGERS 51: Isaac Haas scored 14 points and Dakota Mathias finished with 13 to help No. 13 Purdue pull away from Rutgers. The Boilermakers (14-2, 3-0 Big Ten) have won 10 straight overall and 17 consecutive home games. Geo Baker had 11 points to lead the Scarlet Knights (10-6, 0-3), who have lost three straight. Mike Williams added 10. Purdue made it look easy against the nation’s fourthbest scoring defense. It shot 49.1 percent from the field, went 10 of 23 on 3-pointers, seized control quickly and never let Rutgers become a serious threat again.
NO. 25 CLEMSON 74,
BOSTON COLLEGE 70: Donte Grantham scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Marcquise Reed hit two key free throws to help No. 25 Clemson beat Boston College in its first game in the national rankings in nearly eight years. Reed finished with 17 points for the Tigers (13-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). Clemson’s last time in the AP Poll came on Jan. 23, 2010. Jerome Robinson led Boston College (10-5, 1-2) with 28 points, scoring
26 in the second half. Ky Bowman had 19 with nine rebounds and six assists. Reed nailed his two from the line with 48 seconds left to move Clemson ahead 70-68. Robinson’s 3 from the right wing rimmed out on the next possession. Gabe DeVoe and Shelton Mitchell each hit two from the line in the final 21 seconds for Clemson.
No. 1 UConn women stay perfect, rout ECU
GREENVILLE, N.C. — Katie Lou Samuelson scored 19 points and No. 1 Connecticut routed East Carolina 96-35 on Wednesday.
Gabby Williams added 18 points, Napheesa Collier had 14 points and Azura Stevens matched a season high with 16 rebounds for the Huskies (12-0,
2-0 American Athletic Conference).
They shot 53 percent and scored 31 points off the Pirates’ 20 turnovers while extending their Division I record road winning streak to 42 and winning their 142nd in a row against unranked opponents.
Williams — who had the program’s fifth tripledouble in her previous visit to ECU in January — had 12 points in the first quarter, and she and her teammates had an easy time finding lanes to the rim and attacking. UConn finished with 54 points in the paint, and 27 of its 40 field goals were layups.