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Balanced scoring, swarming second-half defense help FSU men to 87-74 win over UT-Martin

On3 imageby: Corey Clark11/19/25Corey_Clark
On3 image
Florida State forward Alex Steen takes the ball up the court Tuesday night against UT-Martin. (Matt LaSerre/Warchant)

It wasn’t anything like the other two wins the Florida State men’s basketball team picked up this season.

But it was against a much better team.

The Seminoles handed Tennessee-Martin its first loss of the season on Tuesday night with a hard-fought 87-73 win at the Tucker Center. And they did it, in large part, with defense.

Florida State racked up a total of 19 steals and forced 26 turnovers overall in the 14-point win. The Seminoles finished with a 33-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

After a nip-and-tuck first half, it was like the Seminoles flipped a switch in the second half defensively.

In the first half, Tennessee-Martin got a lot of open looks, including several shots at the rim, and were only down 43-40 at halftime. In the second half, the Skyhawks struggled to get anything going for the first 10 minutes, other than a string of turnovers.

Florida State used a game-changing 11-0 run in the second half to push the lead to 17. Martin Somerville knocked down a 3, Robert McCray converted a three-point play, Thomas Bassong made a layup on a dish from Alier Maluk and then Cam Miles drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to finish off the surge.

Miles, a freshman, had a breakout game on Tuesday night, finishing with a game-high 17 points. He also had three assists and three steals, and his 3-pointer from the right wing with 4:28 remaining pushed the lead back to 10 and essentially ended the Skyhawks’ hopes for another upset win.

Tennessee-Martin had already started the year with road wins at UNLV and Bradley.

Along with Miles’ big night, McCray finished with 16 points and 7 assists. Alex Steen had 13 points and seven rebounds, and Lajae Jones and A.J. Swinton both finished with 12 points each. McCray, Jones and Swinton also had three steals apiece, and Somerville had a team-high four for the Seminoles, who were able to win by double-digits despite just shooting 12-of-35 from 3.

Kobe MaGee and Jones, two of the best shooters on the team, were a combined 2-of-15 from deep.

But with Miles and Swinton having big games off the bench, the Seminoles are 3-1 on the season. They’ll play again Friday night at home against Georgia Southern.

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