FSU’s Buzzer Beater Spoils Virginia’s Senior Day

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — With 1.0 seconds remaining, Florida State (15-13, 8-10 ACC) heaved a pass across half court as Seminoles’ guard Matthew Cleveland caught the ball and put up a contested shot that swished the bottom of the net as time expired to knock off Virginia (17-12, 11-8 ACC), 64-63, at John Paul Jones Arena Saturday afternoon.

The game was UVA’s regular-season home finale and its Senior Day. Kihei Clark, Kody Stattmann and Jayden Nixon were honored in front of the JPJ crowd prior to Saturday’s contest.

The Cavaliers were led by Jayden Gardner (21 points, 7-16 FG) and Armaan Franklin (13 points, 4-8 FG). Francisco Caffaro pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds in just 18 minutes of play.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia held a 34-29 lead at the half after Gardner scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting and made all four of his attempts at the charity stripe. The Cavaliers jumped out to a 15-6 lead midway through the opening half, but FSU responded with a 10-0 run to take a 16-15 lead. The Cavaliers closed out the first half by scoring seven of the last nine points.

The Cavaliers led by as many as 11 points (48-37) with 10:56 to play in the game. Franklin, who finished the game, 3-for-6 from deep, made his final 3-pointer to put UVA up 59-50 with 2:19 to play. After Franklin’s knockdown from 3-point range, FSU orchestrated a 7-1 run that was capped by an FSU and-1 to cut the Virginia lead to 60-59 with 45 seconds remaining. With 14 seconds left, Franklin missed the backend of a pair of free throws as the Cavaliers led 61-59. Florida State secured the defensive rebound off the missed free throw and Cleveland went coast-to-coast to get a layup to fall in traffic with 6.3 seconds remaining. After an officials’ timeout, Franklin inbounded the ball to Kadin Shedrick, who passed it right back to Franklin. Franklin dribbled nearly the length of the court, pulled up from just above the free throw line and nailed a jumper with 1.0 seconds remaining to put the Hoos up 63-61. FSU signaled for time before Matthews’ buzzer beater capped eight straight FSU points scored by the freshman guard.

UP NEXT
Virginia closes out the regular season at Louisville on Saturday (March 5). Tipoff at KFC Yum! Center is Noon on ESPN2.