GAINESVILLE, FL -- Florida State's veteran backcourt combined for 45 points and 23 rebounds as the Seminoles defeated No. 25 Florida in Gainesville 65-51. The previously undefeated Gators were dominated from midway into the first half and from there were never able to cut into FSU's double digit lead.

The win gave the Seminole seniors a victory in three of their four meetings with their in-state rivals.

"Three out of four isn't bad," senior guard Jason Rich joked after the game. "I am competitive though, I wish we could have won all four of them."

Rich led the Seminoles with 20 points and 11 rebounds, only the second double-double of his career. He was joined in double digits by Uche Echefu and Toney Douglas, who scored 10 points each. Ralph Mims also contributed seven points and six rebounds off the bench. After the game the senior guard put the victory in a historical perspective.

"It feels great to leave out of here and do something that hasn't been done since 1992," Mims said. "I am just excited because I can leave Florida State and say I beat Florida at Florida my senior year and nobody has done that since 1992."

Head coach Leonard Hamilton was pleased with his team's effort but didn't give the rivalry much thought even though his Seminoles ended UF's school record 24-game home win streak.

"We needed the victory regardless of who we played tonight," Hamilton said. "We had to go out and play the way we are capable of playing. I don't want to diminish the rivalry but I think this game was even more important than that it was between two in-state schools."

For Hamilton's squad, the victory was largely due to a dominating performance on the boards (39-28 advantage) and the ability to score in transition. The ability to score quickly allowed FSU to blow the game open with a 13-2 advantage in fast break points in the first half. The Seminoles had separate runs of nine and 12 points allowing them to open up a 34-21 lead at the half.

"I have to give credit to [Associate Head] Coach [Stan] Jones, he has been right on point with his execution and scouting reports," Rich said. "We have done a good job following the gameplan and you can't contribute it to nothing else but the coaches."

Two years ago in Gainesville, FSU was in a similar position with a double-digit advantage at the half. In that game, Hamilton's team squandered the lead and fell to the eventual National Champions. Senior Isaiah Swann remembers that game well and made sure his teammates remained focused in the second half.

"I just knew we had a job that we had to do," Swann said. "We were here for business. Two years ago we came up here and blew a 20-point lead. So I just knew what it took. I knew that we had to get it done."

The job was finished largely thanks to Rich. Throughout the second half, the senior guard repeatedly answered the bell when the Gators made a mini-run and tried to build some momentum.

"I just tried to take advantage of the mismatches that we had," Rich said. "I stuck to the gameplan and rebounded my [butt] off."

After the game, Florida's freshman forward Adam Allen admitted that the Seminoles out-toughed the Gators. That toughness was very apparent in the paint where the 'Noles outscored the Gators 36-24. Surprisingly,, the ability to dominate in the paint has been absent for most of the early season, including in the last game when FSU was out-rebounded by 16 against Georgia State. That's something Hamilton stressed to players before the opening tip.

"We have not been very consistent with our rebounding effort," Hamilton said. "We did challenge our players and they stayed focused on the boards the entire game. Florida had been out-rebounding their opponents by such a wide margin that they definitely had our attention. We knew we had to match them or exceed that if we were going to have a chance to win the game."

Florida State shot just 25-53 (47.2%) from the field and 3-15 (20%) from three-point range, but were able to cruise to a relatively easy win thanks to poor shooting from the Gators. Billy Donovan's team hit only 21-54 (38.9%) from the floor and 4-23 (17.4%) from beyond the three-point line.

With the win, the Seminoles improve to 5-2 on the season and leave Gainesville with a quality road win in their pocket. Senior Ralph Mims hopes FSU can build on the victory as they advance deeper into the season.

"This game just shows us what type of team we are when we play together," Mims said. "I think that this will be a building block for the whole team."

Florida State returns to the court on Tuesday when they host Minnesota in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN2.