Seminoles step up at the line, shoot down N.C. State, 78-73
No. 17 Florida State 78, N.C. State 73
The No. 17 Florida State men's basketball team overcame a tenacious defensive effort from visiting N.C. State and came through with a huge second-half performance at the free-throw line to pull off a 78-73 victory Saturday afternoon at the Tucker Center.
The Seminoles didn't always handle the Wolfpack's pressure well -- they committed 10 turnovers in the first half and 16 for the game -- but they made enough plays down the stretch to secure the win.
The Seminoles only hit 6 of 11 free throws in the first half but nailed 17 of 19 in the second.
"There were a lot of heroes," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "I thought we had a lot of big plays in the second half."
FSU improves to 23-6 on the season and 11-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
N.C. State falls to 20-9 and 8-8.
The Seminoles were led offensively by sophomore forward Mfiondu Kabengele (16 points), sophomore guard M.J. Walker (15), junior guard Trent Forrest (13) and Terance Mann (11).
Florida State blocked nine shots as a team, with four coming from Kabengele and three from senior center Christ Koumadje.
"I thought we got great play out of our two big guys -- 22 points, 10 rebounds, seven blocks," Hamilton said of Koumadje and Kabengele. "We'll take that any night of the week."
N.C. State lost despite hitting 6 of 10 shots from 3-point range in the second half and 9 of 19 (47.4 percent) for the game.
Forward D.J. Funderburk led the Wolfpack with 18.
The Seminoles will host Virginia Tech on Tuesday night in their final home game of the season before closing out the year Saturday at Wake Forest.
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