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No. 18 FSU tops No. 7 Louisville, beats second top-10 foe on own court

For the second time this season, the Florida State men's basketball team has knocked off a top-10 opponent on its home court.

And just like they did at then-No. 6 Florida in November, the Seminoles did it in dominating fashion.

Led by balanced scoring and suffocating defense, the No. 18 Seminoles blew out No. 7 Louisville on Saturday inside the KFC Yum! Center, 78-65. FSU was led by junior guard M.J. Walker with 25 points, Trent Forrest with 18 and Devin Vassell with 14.

With the win, FSU improves to 13-2 on the season, while Louisville falls to 11-3.

Just last month, Louisville was ranked No. 1 in the country.

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Box Score: No. 18 FSU 78, No. 7 Louisville 65

Florida State led 39-32 at halftime and answered every time the Cardinals made a run in the second half.

Louisville star Jordan Nwora was every bit as good as advertised, scoring 32 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but he received little support from his teammates. FSU's bench outscored the Cardinals' bench by a margin of 32-8.

Nwora's 32 points came on 11-of-15 shooting, while the rest of the Cardinals combined to hit 13 of 47 shots from field. Nwora hit 5 of 6 attempts from 3-point range; his teammates hit 3 of 13.

Florida State blew the game open late in the second half when Walker hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 75-59 with under 3 minutes remaining. After missing Tuesday's game against Georgia Tech with a hip injury, Walker was listed as "questionable" heading into Saturday.

But after getting cleared in pregame warmups, he scored 15 in the first half on 6-of-8 shooting.

Nwora scored 21 points in the first half, but the rest of his team scored just 11.

As a team, FSU shot 55.2 percent from the field and 47.8 percent (11 of 23) from 3-point range. The Seminoles held Louisville to 38.7 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers.

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Discuss the game with fans on Warchant's Seminole Hoops message board.

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