Seminoles’ late surge helps them top Cards
Phil Cofer scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half, Terance Mann added 11 and made a key block leading to M.J. Walker’s clinching dunk with 1 second remaining, and Florida State held off host Louisville 80-76 on Saturday.
The Seminoles broke a 57-all tie with six unanswered points, ending with Cofer’s 3-point play. Their lead stretched to eight a couple of times before they had to fight off the Cardinals’ late charge that got them within 78-76 with 24.7 seconds remaining.
Mann’s two missed free throws with 17.4 seconds left opened the door for Louisville, but he recovered to block V.J. King’s shot 11 seconds later and lead to Walker’s dunk that sealed the hard-fought win. FSU (17-6, 6-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) bounced back from its loss to Wake Forest to hand Louisville (16-7, 6-4) its second consecutive defeat.
Braian Angola had 13 points, Christ Koumadje 11 and Trent Forrest 10 for the Seminoles, who shot 52 percent after halftime to take control of a tight game featuring 11 lead changes and seven ties.
Deng Adel had 19 points and Quentin Snider 15 for the Cardinals.
Florida State offset 40 percent first-half shooting by outrebounding the Cardinals 6-0 offensively, leading to a 9-0 advantage in second-chance points for a 39-38 lead at the break. They were even at 10 in paint points before taking control to win that category 34-24 and the boards 43-34.
The Seminoles host No. 2 and first-place Virginia on Wednesday, seeking its fourth win this season over a ranked foe.
’CANES WIN:
When asked how important his team’s latest victory was as far as building an NCAA Tournament résumé, Miami coach Jim Larrañaga refrained from typical coach-speak, especially that of the variety that one typically hears at this time of year.
“They’re all worth one,” he said.
Miami added the latest one to its win total Saturday, getting a monster game from junior guard Anthony Lawrence II, who scored a career-high 25 points to help the Hurricanes secure an 84-75 road victory over Virginia Tech.
Lawrence hit 9 of 10 from the floor, including three 3-pointers, as Miami (17-5, 6-4 ACC) made the big shots down the stretch and used solid free-throw shooting to win its second straight game and fourth in its past five. Lonnie Walker IV and DJ Vasiljevic added 14 points each.
Behind torrid first-half shooting — 58.6 percent (17 of 29) — Miami grabbed the early lead and led for the final 37 minutes. Virginia Tech (16-7, 5-5) used an 8-0 run to slice the lead to 66-63 on a layup by Justin Robinson with 3:51 remaining, but the Walker hit a clutch 3-pointer with 3:22 to go to push the lead to 69-63.
Robinson scored on another layup with 3:03 to go to trim the lead to 69-65, but Walker answered again. His tough turnaround jumper with 2:46 left pushed the lead to six, and Virginia Tech got no closer than four the rest of the way.
“He only had four or six points until there was about three minutes left in the game,” Larrañaga said of Walker. “Then he took over. He ended very strong.”
The ’Canes relied on something down the stretch that isn’t their strength to hold off the Hokies — free-throw shooting. The ACC’s worst freethrow shooting team coming into the game made 9 of 12 in the final 1:16. They hit 16 of 23 (69.6 percent).
Lawrence finished with his second straight double, grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds as well on a day in which Miami outrebounded Virginia Tech 41-28.
Robinson led the Hokies with 22 points. Justin Bibbs had 16.
“I don’t think, collectively, we played hard enough,” Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said. “We don’t have a margin to overcome lack of toughness, lack of playing hard.”