Seminoles Hold Off Orange, 78-73

Saturday, March 5

Tallahassee, FL

2:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

19-12, 9-9ACC

Florida State

18-12, 8-10ACC

Syracuse

Florida State

3/5/2016 4:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Michael Gbinije scored a game-high 21 points, 16 of which came in the second half, with a game-high five assists but a late Syracuse comeback fell short in the regular season finale at Florida State, 78-73, on Saturday afternoon at the Tucker Center.

The Orange head to next week's ACC Tournament with a 19-12 overall record and a 9-9 mark in ACC play, while the Seminoles improve to 18-12 overall and 8-10 in the ACC.

Trailing by 10 with 2:08 remaining, the Orange went on a 7-0 run over the next 47 seconds, with five of the points coming at the free throw line to pull make it 71-68 with 1:21 left.

After a Malik Beasley dunk off an offensive rebound put the Seminoles up by five with 35 seconds left, Gbinije took the ball straight to the rim, finishing and getting the foul with 32 seconds left. The senior's 3-point play made it a two-point game with 32 seconds remaining, but a pair of missed 3-point attempts on the Orange's final two possessions allowed FSU to escape with the 78-72 victory.

Tyler Lydon scored 16 points for the Orange, while fellow freshman Malachi Richardson had 15 points. Beasley led the Seminoles with 20 points.

FSU used an 8-0 run early in the second half to erase a 4-point Orange halftime lead and eventually turned it into a 17-6 advantage over a 5:09 span to give the home team a 51-44 lead with 13:34 to go.

After the Orange battled back, tying the game, 55-55, on a Trevor Cooney 3-pointer with 9:22 left, FSU went on another 8-0 run to take control, 63-55, with 7:13 remaining.

Both offenses struggled in the early going with Syracuse missing its first five field goal attempts and Florida State missing its first eight attempts.

The Seminoles built a seven-point lead, its largest of the first half, on a Bacon layup with 7:45 left in the half to make it 22-15, but the Orange went on to outscore the Seminoles 20-9 over the duration of the first half. That stretch included an 8-0 run that began at the 1:50 mark to give the Orange a seven-point lead before Xavier Rathan-Mayes hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Orange lead to 35-31 at halftime.

Lydon led all first-half scorers with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-2 from behind the arc.

The Orange's ACC Tournament opening game opponent and time will be announced at the conclusion of Saturday's slate of conference finales.