Seminoles shake off rust, pull away
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida State Seminoles looked like a team that hadn’t played in nine days early Monday night during their home game against Southeast Missouri State.
Despite a rough start, the No. 11 Seminoles rallied to earn an 85-68 win over the Redhawks, improving to 9-1 this season.
The Seminoles didn’t hit their stride until about the 11:30 mark of the second half when they went on a 15-2 run and built a 57-49 lead, their largest of the game.
Terance Mann’s dunk with 8:37 remaining gave the Seminoles their first double-digit lead of the game, and from that point on they were able to coast.
Florida State started the game 3-of-8 from the field and 0-of-5 from behind the arc, playing from behind most of first half. Christ Koumadje’s putback dunk at the buzzer tied the game at 34 at halftime.
Trent Forrest was aggressive throughout the night, getting to the basket almost at will. He led all scorers with a career-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Forrest got the Seminoles back on track in the first half and he said he knew it was time for him to step up.
“I could see a couple guys putting their heads down at shots,” he said. “I knew I would just have to continue to feed them, continue to push the pace to where they could get open shots.”
The first half also featured an appearance by Phil Cofer, who checked in for the first time this season. Still getting his bearings about him after being sidelined due to a foot injury, Cofer finished scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.
FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said he liked what he saw from Cofer and they will be taking it slow as he eases back into the lineup.
“Just trying to get Phil back into the flow. It’s a little difficult,” Hamilton said. “He had great shots that rimmed in the basket. I thought every one of them was going in. I thought he gave good effort; I just didn’t want to push it. We want to ease him back into the flow. We’re going to need him for the long haul.”
David Nichols finished with 13 points while Koumadje chipped in 12 points and four blocks. Hamilton said they were among the players who rose to the occasion and led the team.
“The unique thing about our team is that I think we have enough parts that we can find someone that’s capable of stepping up and being productive,” Hamilton said.
“I think that’s what happened tonight. We had a lot of guys step in and give us good positive play. A lot of unselfish spirit, guys got some stops when we needed them. … We had guys step up to the plate and do what we had to do to win.”
FSU finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and 26.9 from 3-point range. The Seminoles out-rebounded the Redhawks 46-28. The Seminoles’ bench outscored Southeast Missouri’s 43-21.
“Up in New Jersey against Connecticut in the first half, we scored 39 points and 29 of those points came from our bench. That’s who we are,” Hamilton said.
“I use this term, ‘We win games by committee.’ That’s kind of who we are. Our starters were playing hard but weren’t quite giving us the offensive productivity we needed, so some other guys stepped up.”