January 23, 2008

Derek Redd, Osceola
Warchant.com

After three straight conference losses that put it one step from the ACC cellar, the Florida State men's basketball team knew exactly what Wednesday night's home game against Virginia meant for its future.

"We knew it was a must-win," senior guard Isaiah Swann said. "We knew we had to get it."

The Seminoles got a stinging reminder of that when, much like their collapse Sunday against Wake Forest, they let a halftime lead devolve into a double-digit deficit.

Yet, rather than roll over, the Seminoles recovered to snap that losing streak, beating the Cavaliers 69-67 at the Donald L. Tucker Center and keeping their postseason hopes alive. It also gave FSU coach Leonard Hamilton his 300 th career win and 100th win at Florida State.

Florida State (13-7, 2-3 in the ACC) put the game away with a swipe of guard Toney Douglas' hand. The Seminoles led 63-62 with 47.4 seconds left, and the Cavaliers (11-6, 1-3 in the ACC) put the ball in the hands of preseason All-America guard Sean Singletary. Singletary tried a crossover dribble at the top of the key, but Douglas batted the ball away, took it to the other end of the court, got fouled and hit both free throws.

"I just had to take on the challenge and I was ready for the challenge," Douglas said. "I was just making sure he didn't get a lot of touches. I'm a really good on-the-ball defender, and he's a good ball handler. I knew at the end he was going to try to take over."

Douglas held Singletary to 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting and forced Singletary into five turnovers. His last-second 3-point heave saved his ACC-best double-digit scoring streak, now at 39 games.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao said Douglas did a good job on Singletary, but that Singletary didn't do himself any favors.

"(Douglas is) a quick, strong energetic athlete that can guard the ball well, but Sean didn't have his 'A' game," Leitao said. "Sean wasn't Sean today."

Florida State, second in the country in free throw percentage, hit seven of 10 in the final 45 seconds to put the game away, a game that FSU trailed for much of the second half.

The Seminoles held a five-point lead with 17:45 remaining but, similar to their collapse against Wake Forest on Sunday, couldn't hold it for long. The Cavaliers went on an 11-0 run and led by as many as 10 in the second half.

Yet the Seminoles came storming back thanks to Douglas and Swann. Swann, who came off the bench for the first time this season, tied the game at 60-60 on a 3-pointer with 2:25 remaining and Douglas gave FSU their first lead since the 17:43 mark right after that. The two combined for all of FSU's final 12 points.

Hamilton said the Seminoles' second-half recovery had a lot to do with a deeper rotation.

"We had a much better rotation tonight," Hamilton said. "We didn't have as many guys with extended minutes as we had in the pass. We were able to keep people fresher and we didn't have those periods where we just couldn't fight back."

Swann said he felt the difference and that made the difference.

"In the Wake Forest game, we had an eight-man rotation," Swann said. "This game, we had a nine-or-10-man rotation. You're so much more efficient when you're not trying to pace yourself or save yourself."

Douglas and Swann were two of the Seminoles' three double-digit scorers. Douglas finished with 19, while Jason Rich finished with 17 and Swann scored 16. Virginia's Mamadi Diane led all scorers with 21.

Talk about it on the Tribal Council or the Hoops Message Board.