Florida State played with as much sustained intensity as the Seminoles have for a full game this season. But in the end it wasn’t enough as they let another second-half lead slip away against No. 3 North Carolina.

RJ Davis scored 24 points and freshman Elliot Cadeau scored a season-high 16 points as No. 3 UNC rallied from an eight-point deficit early in the second half to hold off Florida State 75-68 on Saturday to extend the Tar Heels’ win streak to 10 games.

Primo Spears scored 15 points on 6 of 15 shooting, drilling 3 of 4 3-pointers, for Florida State (12-8, 6-3 ACC). Spears has scored in double figures in 11 of 12 games this season.

Jamir Watkins scored 10 first-half points but finished with just 12 points on 3 of 12 shooting.

"We’re not totally in sync offensively or defensively as we would like to," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We’ve been struggling a little with getting an inside presence where we can benefit from throwing the ball into the post at times and drawing fouls and giving teams something to concentrate on other than defending us on the perimeter. And I think it showed in those dips that we had."

The Seminoles shot 16 of 32 from the floor, including 7 of 12 from 3-point range, to take a 41-36 halftime lead. But while the Seminoles quickly extended the lead to eight, 46-38, the Tar Heels within five minutes erased the deficit and jumped ahead 58-52 on Cadeau’s jumper with 14:03 to go.

FSU trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, but Spears' steal and then layup with 2:36 left cut the UNC lead to 70-68. But Davis responded with a clutch jumper in the final minute and knocked down three free-throw attempts the rest of the way as FSU missed their final five shots.

In the second half, FSU shot 11 of 30 (36.7 percent).

UNC (17-3, 9-0) again won the rebounding edge 41-32, with the Tar Heels pulling down 16 offensive boards. Harrison Ingram had 17 rebounds, including six offensive boards.

Baba Miller led FSU with six rebounds.

UNC also had an edge at the line, making 19 of 24 free-throw attempts. FSU shot just 5 of 11.

"Missed a couple free throws," Hamilton said. "They got a chance to get to the free-throw line a little better. And they made their free throws and we didn’t hit ours. What few free throws we got."

FSU held a 14-point lead at UNC in December before depth and the inability to break the press led to the Tar Heels storming back and taking an eight-point win.

While North Carolina won its 10th straight game, the Seminoles entered the month of January on a tailspin but finished 6-2 with losses to Clemson and UNC. Both of those teams are projected as those that will make the NCAA Tournament field.

But Hamilton seems optimistic, in large part because now the Seminoles have a deeper rotation with Cam Corhen and Jaylan Gainey back up to speed following injuries as well as Spears now with 12 games under his belt.

"We’re not totally in sync offensively or defensively as we would like to," Hamilton said. "We’ve been struggling a little with getting an inside presence where we can benefit from throwing the ball into the post at times and drawing fouls and giving teams something to concentrate on other than defending us on the perimeter. And I think it showed in those dips that we had. ...

"We’re getting better. Early in the year we had a lot of coming and going. It didn’t allow us to get the right rotation that we seem to have now. we seem to be in a good place with us learning more about how to utilize who we are."

FSU has a week off before traveling to Louisville on Feb. 3 at 8 p.m.

The Seminoles won't return home until a Feb. 10 matchup with Virginia at 8 p.m.

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