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No. 16 Cavaliers Drop 58-55 Decision at No. 21 Florida State
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-Sophomore forward Okaro White scored 13 points and senior forward/center Xavier Gibson added 10 points to lead the Florida State men’s basketball team to a 58-55 victory over Virginia in an Atlantic Coast Conference game Saturday afternoon (Feb. 4) at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
White and Gibson also had five rebounds each to lead the Seminoles in that department.
Senior forward Mike Scott had his second consecutive double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead UVa. Sophomore guard Joe Harris scored 16 points and had five rebounds for the Cavaliers, and freshman guard Malcolm Brogdon added 10 points.
Scott’s 11 rebounds enabled him to move into fourth place on Virginia’s career rebounding list with 865 rebounds.
The victory was the seventh in a row for Florida State and the Seminoles are now 16-6 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. It was the Seminoles’ sixth consecutive win over Virginia and Florida State has now won the last nine games between the two teams in Tallahassee.
The loss ended a three-game Virginia winning streak. The Cavaliers are now 18-4 overall and 5-3 in the ACC. UVa’s four losses this season have been by a total of 10 points.
In this week’s national rankings, UVa is ranked 16th in The Associated Press rankings and 18th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Florida State is ranked 21st in The Associated Press rankings and 24th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll.
The Seminoles led 23-22 at halftime and expanded their lead to 13 points (42-29) with 7:59 remaining in the game after a 12-2 run. White had seven points in the Florida State run including a dunk to end it.
Florida State still led by 13 (44-31) with 7:31 to play, but the Cavaliers went on a 14-0 run over a span of just 2:35 to take a 45-44 lead with 4:41 left in the game after a steal and layup by junior guard Jontel Evans. Evans had six points in the Virginia surge.
The Seminoles came right back to regain the lead on a three-point basket by junior guard Michael Snaer. A basket by senior guard Luke Loucks and a free throw by White made it a six-point run by Florida State to give the Seminoles a five-point lead (50-45) with 2:41 to play.
UVa cut the lead to two points (50-48) with 2:27 left on a three-pointer by Harris, but Snaer hit another three for the Seminoles at the 1:56 mark and the Cavaliers got no closer than three points the rest of the game.
Both teams were plagued by turnovers. Virginia turned the ball over a season-high 20 times, while Florida State had 19 turnovers.
UVa shot 46.7 percent (21-45) from the field for the game, including 33.3 percent (6-18) from three-point range, and 87.5 percent (7-8) from the free-throw line. It’s the first time this season the Cavaliers have lost when shooting better than 40 percent from the field.
Florida State shot 47.8 percent (22-46) from the field, including 41.7 percent (5-12) from three-point range, and 56.3 percent (9-16) from the free-throw line. Florida State out-rebounded Virginia 28-24.
UVa returns to action on Wednesday (Feb. 8) when the Cavaliers host Wake Forest at John Paul Jones Arena. That game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised by the regional sports networks.