Watkins, Jackson lead Florida State men to 84-76 home win over Boston College
Florida State didn’t have its best shooter on Tuesday night.
Jamir Watkins and Chandler Jackson made sure it didn’t matter.
The two guards combined for 41 points, and hit 5 of 7 shots from 3-point range, in leading the Seminoles to an 84-76 win over Boston College at the Tucker Center.
With the victory, FSU snaps a three-game losing streak, finishes off a regular-season sweep of the Eagles and improves to 14-12 overall and 8-7 in the ACC. Boston College drops to 15-11 and 6-9.
Both teams shot the lights out in the first half, hitting over 55 percent of their field goal attempts, and the game was tied at 43-43 after 20 minutes.
But a 10-0 run midway through the second half, sparked by the FSU defense, proved to be the pivotal run for the Seminoles, who were without sharp-shooter Darin Green Jr. due to an injury.
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Trailing 61-60 with 10 minutes left, the Seminoles got five consecutive stops — highlighted by back-to-back steals by Jackson — to take control of the game.
Taylor Bol Bowen hit two free throws, Josh Nickelberry drained a corner 3-pointer, Jaylen Warley had an and-one layup on the fastbreak, and then Cameron Corhen drained a mid-range jumper to cap off the 10-0 run and give the Seminoles a nine-point lead.
Then, after the Eagles cut the lead to five, Jackson made maybe the biggest shot of the game with a 3 from the corner. Jackson finished with a career-high 19 points.
“He has the ability to score. He is a big, strong guy, and you can’t leave him open,” Hamilton said. “He takes contact and finishes around the basket, and he has a burst of speed that allows him to accelerate and move past people. And he’s a much better athlete than maybe you might would think.”
Watkins added 22 and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Seminoles, who also got 13 from Warley and 11 from Corhen.
Jackson and Warley also had three steals each for FSU, which had 10 as a team and forced 16 total turnovers on the night.
The Seminoles shot 57 percent from the field overall and were 21-of-29 from the free-throw line.
After a red-hot start, the Eagles finished shooting 52 percent from the floor and were 11-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Florida State, which also didn’t get a single minute from Primo Spears (who was suited up and on the bench), plays again on Saturday night at Clemson.
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