Noles roll to road rout of UVA

Seizing momentum from the start, Florida State built a 21-point lead and never trailed in Saturday's 73-62 victory at Virginia.

Senior point guard Toney Douglas scored 21 points and freshman center Solomon Alabi added 10 as the Seminoles (16-4, 3-2 ACC) collected their second conference road win of the season.

"I thought our players came out and played with tremendous energy," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "The effort definitely was there. I thought that made the difference in the first half from a defensive standpoint, rebounding standpoint, and I thought it really made a difference and set the tone for the game."

Chris Singleton pitched in seven points and a team-leading seven rebounds to lead a well-rounded FSU attack.

The Seminoles limited the Cavaliers to just three first half field goals, got nine points from Douglas and took a 30-16 lead into the locker room. FSU held its largest lead of the night at 59-38 with 9:04 remaining, before Virginia scored 24 points down the stretch to cosmetically improve its margin of defeat.

"I was glad to see us bounce back from a disheartening loss at Miami," said Hamilton, referring to Wednesday's 75-69 road defeat. "That just shows that they are learning from their mistakes. We just have to continue to keep growing and maturing."

After allowing Miami to shoot 61 percent in the second half, FSU clamped down defensively on the Cavaliers from the start. Virginia missed 17 of its first 18 shots, but managed to shoot 35 percent (17 of 48) from the floor for the game.

"I think what happens when you generate easy baskets from deflections and put-backs and hustle points, it makes a big difference in the game," Hamilton said. "Today we were able to get out, get running, and get some easy opportunities because we were playing with energy."

Freshman guard Sylven Landesberg led all scorers with 24 points including a perfect 14-for-14 from the charity stripe.

Florida State shot 50 percent (27 of 54) from the floor and was even better (53 pct) from 3-point range, converting 8 of 15 attempts. The Seminoles held a 29-24 rebounding advantage, though they did commit 22 turnovers against just 16 assists.

Florida State returns home Wednesday (9 p.m.) to host No. 5 North Carolina.

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