Watkins pours in career-high 34 as Florida State men keep season alive with 86-76 win over VT
You can’t win four in a row until you win the first one.
The Florida State men, which need to win the ACC Tournament to get into the NCAA tourney, dispatched of Virginia Tech 86-76 on Wednesday in their opening game in Washington D.C..
The Seminoles (17-15 overall) now face No. 1 seed North Carolina on Thursday at noon.
It wasn’t easy, and the last two minutes took forever to play, but behind Jamir Watkins’ career-high 34 points, Florida State kept its season alive with the 10-point victory over the Hokies (18-14).
“I thought the difference in the game was that we competed on the boards,” FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton said. “I thought we attacked the basket. Obviously, that’s been one of the strengths of our team. We were able to get the ball and attack the interior.
“And I thought our guys gave a good effort the entire game.”
It was anybody’s game with seven minutes to go, but that’s when the Seminoles went on a critical, season-saving run to grab control of the contest.
Trailing 58-57, Primo Spears gave FSU the lead with a pull-up jumper. Jaylen Warley then scored on a spinning layup to push the advantage to three after a Virginia Tech turnover and Spears added another layup after yet another Hokies’ turnover on the next possession.
Watkins then made two free throws and eventually finished off the 11-0 run with an emphatic dunk after an offensive rebound.
From there, it was a foul-fest on both ends as the game slowed down into a slog. But Florida State, which has struggled from the line much of the year, was perfect down the stretch: The Seminoles made their final 16 free throws to withstand Virgina Tech’s charge in the final minutes.
Watkins, who was named an honorable mention All-ACC player earlier in the week, also added 11 rebounds and four steals for the Seminoles. His 34 points were the most ever scored by an FSU player in the ACC Tournament.
“They were early in the gaps,” Watkins said of how VT was defending him. “But once we got it to like three or four times swinging the ball, we kind of like got downhill and it opened up all the gaps for us. And we were able to score.”
Warley added 18 points (on 8 of 10 shooting) and four assists and Spears contributed 10 off the bench.
Florida State scored 25 points off of Virginia Tech turnovers in the win.
The Seminoles now turn their attention to the top-seeded Tar Heels, who beat them twice earlier in the season. Both games were close, with FSU having a halftime lead in each before the regular-season champs went on prolonged runs in the second half to win by eight points and seven points, respectively.
“The game is 40 minutes,” Hamilton said. “We were up 14 I think in the second half on the road in Chapel Hill. We were up, I think, nine or eight with about nine minutes to go at our place. But the game is 40 minutes. And we played 30 each game. So, hopefully we can play 40 minutes this time.”
In those two games, Florida State shot 19 free throws. North Carolina shot 55.
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