Florida State Defeats Maryland 84-70
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida State looks like a completely different team than it did just 10 days ago.
But after a 20-point loss at Clemson, the Seminoles have responded with three straight Atlantic Coast Conference victories.
Michael Snaer scored 19 points and Ian Miller had a career-high 18 points to lead Florida State past Maryland 84-70 on Tuesday night.
Bernard James had 17 points and six rebounds and Okaro White added 13 points as the Seminoles (12-6, 3-1 ACC) used a 21-3 second-half run to pull away.
"They're making shots, playing with confidence, got to the foul line and made 20 out of 23 free throws," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "That's pretty impressive. . They're just executing at a high level."
lorida State certainly did in the second half. Maryland led 42-40 with 17:25 left in the game, but Deividas Dulkys keyed Florida State's big run with a pair of 3-pointers as the Seminoles grabbed a comfortable 61-45 lead with 12:39 to go.
"Deividas only got a couple of good looks," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "He only got a couple, but when he did he knocked them down, which showed a lot of patience and maturity on his part."
Florida State's ACC winning streak began after the Seminoles opened the conference schedule with a 79-59 loss at Clemson on Jan. 7. Florida State has also won four of its past five games.
In each of their ACC victories, the Seminoles have had a different leading scorer. James had 18 points against Virginia Tech, Dulkys had 32 in the upset of No. 3 North Carolina and Snaer had 19 on Tuesday.
"We're a team that has to win by committee," Hamilton said. "And I believe there are going to be different guys step up each night. That was evident tonight when we put four guys in double figures."
Maryland had to lean on Terrell Stoglin, the ACC's scoring leader. Stoglin had 27 points and Nick Faust added 10 points for the Terrapins (12-5, 2-2).
Maryland, which had won nine of its last 10 coming into Tuesday, has now lost its last two road games, including a defeat at North Carolina State on Jan. 8.
"We have a lot of tough games ahead of us," Turgeon said. "We have to get better."
Florida State made 20 of 23 shots (87 percent) from the free-throw line. Maryland made just 17 of 27 shots (63 percent).
Luke Loucks had nine points and six assists for the Seminoles. Florida State had 12 assists and a season-low nine turnovers -- the first time this season the Seminoles have had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.
Both teams shot well from the floor. Florida State made 47.5 percent of its baskets (29 of 61) compared to 50 percent (24 of 48) for Maryland.
James had 11 points and six rebounds as Florida State led 36-33 at the half.
"We managed to keep our energy high from the tip to the final buzzer," James said. "They beat us last year. That really stuck with me. I've been thinking about that for a whole year. It was good to get some payback."
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
