Jamir Watkins has career-best 27 points, FSU pulls away to defeat Syracuse - TheOsceola: Florida State Seminoles Football & Basketball Recruiting

Published Jan 23, 2024

Jamir Watkins has career-best 27 points, FSU pulls away to defeat Syracuse

Bob Ferrante • TheOsceola

Editor

Jamir Watkins had his best game since he arrived at Florida State. And the Seminoles needed every point and rebound, especially in the second half, to pull away from Syracuse.

Watkins had a career-high 27 points on 8 of 15 shooting and matched a career-best with 11 rebounds as FSU defeated Syracuse 85-69, handing the Orange their first loss at the JMA Wireless Dome. The redshirt junior had three steals and shot 9 of 12 from the free-throw line had the most points by a Seminole since Darin Green Jr. dropped 30 on St. John’s in Dec. 2022.

FSU (12-7, 6-2 ACC) shot 58.1 percent in the second half and used a late 15-1 run to put away Syracuse. The Seminoles have now won their last three league road games, knocking off Notre Dame, Miami and now Syracuse.

Cam Corhen and Baba Miller each had 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting. Corhen pulled down five rebounds.

Primo Spears scored 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting with five assists (and no turnovers) in front of family and friends who made the drive from Hartford, Conn., to Syracuse.

Judah Mintz had 28 points on 9 of 14 shooting and 10 of 15 from the free-throw line for Syracuse (13-6, 4-4), which won the rebounding edge 38-34. FSU had eight offensive rebounds, considerably more than the three from its home loss to Clemson on Saturday.

Watkins’ previous best was 22 points at VCU, and he had 19 points in a number of games earlier this season. He has scored in double figures in 14 games this season, including five straight. Watkins is FSU’s leading scorer with 13.2 points per game.

Green Jr. had eight points on 3 of 10 shooting, including 2 of 7 from 3-point range. But he also had four of FSU’s 10 steals.

Syracuse got to the line often, making 25 of 33 shots. FSU was 15 of 20.

FSU shot 14 of 34 (41.2 percent) in the first half. While the Seminoles were cold coming out of halftime, they shot 18 of 31 (58.1 percent) in the second half and were more selective and accurate from 3-point range (3 of 6).