Strong second half lifts Seminoles past Tigers, 75-69
Advertisement
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Deividas Dulkys led the Seminoles with 17 points, 13 coming in the second half. His 3-point basket with 3:36 to go gave Florida State a 62-61 lead and another with 1:06 left put the Seminoles up 69-65.
Florida State (7-2) hit six straight free throws in the final 38 seconds to seal the victory.
Dulkys was 2 for 7 in the first half and 0 for 3 from long range. He turned that around in the second half hitting 3 of 4 from long range with all three baskets coming at clutch times.
"He's confident at this stage of his career that the next one is going in," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said of Dulkys' clutch shooting. "That's the difference between a freshman and a junior."
Dulkys didn't play in Florida State's last game, an 60-38 win over Hartford, after losing a fingernail on his non-shooting left hand in practice.
Chris Singleton added 13 for the Seminoles while senior guard Derwin Kitchen chipped in with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Demontez Stitt led Clemson with 18 points. Tanner Smith added 13 points, Jerai Grant 12 and Andre Young 11 for the Tigers.
Clemson (5-4) led 34-28 at halftime.
The score was tied four times and the lead changed hands on 10 occasions, the last one at 62-61 on the Dulkys shot.
Florida State regained the lead for the first time in 17 minutes when Dulkys' 3-point basket with 15:31 left put the Seminoles up 38-36.
Florida State shot 43.5 percent (27 of 62) after a 51.6 percent second half (16 of 31) while Clemson hit 40.7 percent of its shots.
The Seminoles got a big boost from its bench with Okaro White and Bernard James scoring nine points each.
Neither team shot well in the first half. Clemson hit 37.5 percent of its tries (12 of 32) despite Milton Jennings' 0-for-10 opening half.
Florida State, which connected on only 35.5 percent of his field goal tries in the half (11 for 31), jumped to an 8-2 lead to start the game but then trailed by as many as eight points just before the halftime break.
"I think tonight was a sign that we are moving in the right direction," Hamilton said.
The Seminoles will have one more home game this Wednesday against Stetson (9:00 pm tip-off) before an extended road trip that will include several games in Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic.