Tar Heels rally in second half, knock off No. 9 FSU Basketball

The Florida State men's basketball team was 20 minutes from history. The No. 9-ranked Seminoles then played a half of basketball they would love to soon forget.

After leading by as many as 16 points in the first half and by 12 points at halftime, the 'Noles were completely dominated by North Carolina in the final period Saturday afternoon at Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Tar Heels started the second half with a 30-11 run and held on for a 78-70 victory. The win improved UNC's record to 14-9 overall and 9-5 in the ACC, while Florida State fell to 14-4 and 10-3.

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Box Score: North Carolina 78, No. 9 FSU 70

"You have to give them credit," FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "They did to us what we normally do to other people. ... Sometimes, you just have to give teams credit. Sometimes you get outplayed. Today, we got outplayed."

Florida State, which was aiming to record its third consecutive victory over North Carolina for the first time in school history, controlled the action at both ends of the court in the first half.

But the Tar Heels turned up the defensive pressure in the second period, and freshman center Walker Kessler came off the bench to turn in a dominating performance. Kessler, who scored just eight points the last time the teams played in mid-January (an 82-75 FSU victory), led all players with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting.

Hamilton said he and his staff expected the 7-foot-1, 245-pounder to be a handful after seeing his improvement in recent weeks.

"Kessler is very, very talented," Hamilton said of the McDonald's All-American. "He's grown. He's matured. ... [UNC] was a lot more physical than us. We just didn't have enough people in there blocking them out."

Indeed, the Tar Heels also controlled the glass, claiming a 44-36 edge in rebounding; they finished with 20 offensive boards.

The Seminoles were led by junior forward RaiQuan Gray with 17 points and eight rebounds, freshman Scottie Barnes with 12 points and Anthony Polite with 10.

"They just came with more energy [in the second half]," Barnes said. "They were being tougher. We didn't regroup after it. ... In the second half, I don't know. It's tough, it's energy draining when a team gets a lot of offensive rebounds."

Senior guard M.J. Walker, who was questionable for the game, scored 9 points and surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for his career.

Walker, forward Malik Osborne and center Tanor Ngom all played in the game despite missing multiple recent practices due to injuries. But Hamilton said their health wasn't an excuse for the Seminoles' performance.

The game was a complete tale of two halves.

* FSU turned the ball over 5 times in the first period, 12 in the second.

* The Tar Heels turned the ball over 14 times in the first half, 7 in the second.

* The 'Noles shot 45.5 percent in the first half, 32.4 in the second.

* UNC shot 25.0 percent in the first half, 50.0 percent in the second.

With the win, UNC coach Roy Williams earned the 900th victory of his career.

Despite the loss, the Seminoles still have a chance to win the ACC regular-season championship for the second consecutive season. But they likely will need to win both of their remaining games -- at home against Boston College and at Notre Dame -- to lock it up.

FSU and Boston College will square off the Tucker Center on Wednesday night.

Stay connected with Warchant.com for complete postgame coverage.

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