Jamir Watkins pours in career-high 27, Florida State storms to 85-69 win at Syracuse
Jamir Watkins wasn’t the only reason the Florida State men’s basketball team won Tuesday night at Syracuse.
But he was certainly the biggest.
The VCU transfer scored a career-high 27 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and added 3 steals and 2 assists in leading the Seminoles to an impressive 85-69 victory over the Orange. It marked FSU’s sixth win its last seven ACC games.
Florida State is now 12-7 on the season and 6-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Syracuse, which had not lost a game at home until Tuesday night, drops to 13-5 and 4-4.
The Seminoles trailed by one point at halftime after a foul-infested first 20 minutes. Then they found themselves trailing by as many as seven early in the second half after two more free throws by Syracuse star Judah Mintz.
The Orange led by six, 48-42, with 15 minutes left when Florida State completely flipped the game.
The Seminoles went on a 15-6 run thanks to big buckets by Watkins and Primo Spears to take a lead they would never relinquish. The Orange, thanks mainly to Mintz (28 points, 10-of-15 from the free-throw line), kept the game close for the next few minutes before getting blown off the floor down the stretch.
Watkins had an emphatic dunk on a fast break and made four free throws, senior shooting guard Darin Green scored five points — including a critical 3-pointer from the corner off a nice feed from Jalen Warley — and the Seminoles never looked back, turning a small lead into one that grew as large as 20 down the stretch.
Florida State was 11-of-12 from the free-throw line in the second half and wound up forcing 16 Syracuse turnovers overall. The Seminoles also tallied 10 steals in the win, with Green leading the way with four.
And even when they weren’t taking the ball away, FSU’s players made it difficult for the Orange to get good looks at the basket.
“We contained the dribble a lot better in the second half than we did in the first half,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said.
*BOX SCORE: FSU 85, Syracuse 69
Spears finished with 13 points off the bench, Baba Miller added 12, and Cameron Corhen scored 10 for FSU, which picked up its third straight road win of the season and has now won eight of its last 10 overall.
The Seminoles, still fighting for a potential spot in the NCAA Tournament, host No. 3 North Carolina on Saturday at the Tucker Center at 2 p.m. The Tar Heels are undefeated in conference play so far and stand alone in first place.
With the victory on Tuesday, Florida State remains in second in the conference standings.
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