FSU cruises past Wake Forest 76-62
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For the first time since December, the Florida State Men's basketball team cruised to a victory. The Seminoles took care of Wake Forest 76-62 at the Donald L. Tucker Center Tuesday night.
The 14-point margin of victory was the largest for FSU since it defeated Tulsa 82-63 on December 29. It was just the fifth double-digit margin of victory for FSU (15-13, 7-8 ACC) the entire season.
The Demon Deacons (12-15, 5-10 ACC) cut the lead to just one point in the second half, but FSU took control with 23-2 run during a 10:26 stretch where WF didn't have a shot from the floor. Michael Snaer scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the second half.
"I'd take a half a point victory if there's a such animal out there with this team," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "At halftime I had a lot of sweat beads on my head. I didn't have very many on my head at the end of the night which is a good sign."
C.J. Harris' three with 15:56 made it just a one-point game, but FSU took control of the game with its best defensive stretch of the season. Snaer said the biggest reason for the offensive drought from Wake Forest was the fact that FSU didn't allow any offensive rebounds.
"Just rebounding," he said of what enabled the 23-2 run. "After they put up a shot just making sure they don't get any second-chance shots, because when they do that it's when they're able to score. But if we do a good job rebounding and are able to keep them off the glass they don't get those second-chance points."
FSU dominated inside the paint much of the game on Tuesday night.. The Seminoles outscored the Deacons 26-18 in the paint and held a 44-21 rebound advantage. FSU also blocked 12 shots, including four by Kiel Turpin.
Okaro White had 13 points and nine rebounds. Boris Bojanovsky tied his career-high with 10 points, three blocked shots and three rebounds.
"We had to (step up) because we focused on it all preparation for the game because last game we got destroyed on the boards," Bojanovsky said. "So this game we had to rebound and we did good."
With FSU controlling the glass Snaer took control on the offensive end of the floor. Snaer scored 19 of 24 points in the second half, and was 8 of 8 from the free-throw line. The senior guard knocked down 2 of 5 three-point attempts, had five rebounds and two assists.
It was Snaer' fifth game this season with at least 20 points, and the third time in the last four games.
"I thought Michael was very efficient tonight," Hamilton said. "24 points on only 10 shots. I thought he was aggressive when he needed to be and he was patient when he needed to be."
FSU returns to the court Sunday March 3 at North Carolina for a 2 p.m. ET tipoff.