Florida State Keeps Tournament Hopes Alive, 81-71
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Devon Bookert scored 16 points off the bench, going 4 for 4 on 3-pointers, as Florida State defeated Georgia Tech 81-71 on Sunday.
The Seminoles (17-11, 8-8 ACC) kept their slim NCAA tournament hopes alive with the win, with two regular-season games remaining.
Okaro White finished with 18 for Florida State as Aaron Thomas added 15. Montay Brandon grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.
Georgia Tech (13-16, 4-12) lost its fourth consecutive and has dropped six of seven. Robert Carter Jr. scored 20 points and snatched six rebounds while Trae Golden chipped in 16 points. Daniel Miller finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Florida State wraps up the season at Boston College and at home against No. 4 Syracuse. The Seminoles likely need to win both to remain on the tournament bubble.
The Yellow Jackets never found a groove offensively and shot just 36.2 percent from the field. They had been shooting 42.6 percent during conference play, and that ranked 11th in the ACC. Georgia Tech connected on just 5 of 27 shots from behind the arc to make a bad offensive day even worse. The 71 points, however, were the most Georgia Tech has scored in its previous six losses.
The Seminoles used two bursts in the first half to gain control of the game, but allowed a late Georgia Tech run to close the gap to 34-31 at the break.
Ian Miller, who finished with 15 points, highlighted an 11-0 run with consecutive 3-pointers after Florida State fell behind 11-6. The second came in transition after Miller gave up the ball with a pass between his legs, got it back and hit a step-back 3-pointer as the defender fell to the ground.
Miller started the second run, a 9-0 stretch, with a long jumper before a pair of buckets from Boris Bojanovsky and Florida State took a 26-14 lead on a Jarquez Smith free throw.
Georgia Tech responded with a 17-9 stretch to close the gap before the half.
The Seminoles opened the second half with a 15-7 run that the Yellow Jackets never recovered from.
Florida State didn't settle for jump shots and connected on 22 of 25 free throw attempts in the second half that proved too much for Georgia Tech. The Seminoles shot 61.1 percent from the field after halftime.
© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
