TALLAHASSEE, FL— Winthrop nearly overcame an 18-point deficit but fell short in its upset bid of 9
th-ranked Florida State with an 87-76 loss, Tuesday afternoon at the Tucker Center.
WINTHROP (8-5, 0-0 BIG SOUTH)
SCORING LEADERS
FLORIDA STATE (12-1, 0-0 ACC)
SCORING LEADERS
- Terance Mann (22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal)
- Phil Cofer (14 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal)
- Mfiondu Kabengele (10 points, 2 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals)
FIRST HALF
- Adam Pickett opened the scoring as he took the ball right to the rack and scored
- Phil Cofer came out knocking down everything as he scored the first 12 points of the game for FSU
- Cover's four-point play gave the Seminoles an early 9-4 lead but the Eagles responded as Pickett scored off the drive again and Bjorn Broman also scored driving to the basket and was fouled in the act
- Broman completed the three-point play to tie the game at 9-9 with 16:37 to play
- Cofer hit a three followed by a three from Terance Mann for a 15-9 lead, but Austin Awad cut the deficit in half with a three from the wing
- Pickett made it a one point game with 14:23 left as once again he got to the rim and scored while getting fouled as he completed the three-point play
- Eagles stayed within two possessions for most of the first half until FSU used a 5-0 spurt for a 40-31 lead with three minutes remaining as Kabengele scored all five points
- The run ended with a free throw from Josh Ferguson but FSU continued to score as Mann knocked down a three for its largest lead of the game at 11 (43-32)
- Kyle Zunic cut the lead to single-digits with 2:15 left with a drive to the basket only to have FSU score four straight for a 47-34 lead, forcing a timeout by Winthrop
- FSU outscored the Eagles 17-5 over the final 4:24 to lead 52-36 at the break
- Florida State made six of its first 10 shots in the first six minutes but over the next five and a half minutes were 2-of-12 from the floor and then finished the half hitting 8-of-11
- Winthrop shot 52 percent but 10 turnovers led to 15 points for the Seminoles and the Eagles were just 1-of-10 behind the arc
- Despite the three ball not falling for the Eagles they were able to get into the paint with 24 points in the paint in the first half
- The Seminoles hit eight triples in the first half and shot 48 percent from the floor
SECOND HALF
- Winthrop opened the second half shooting well and was able to get the deficit to single-digits with 14:53 to play
- Trailing 62-48 Zunic made 1-of-2 free throws followed by a jumper from Awad and Pickett scored on the drive to make it a 62-53 game
- Charles Falden cut the FSU lead to seven points after he got to the basket for a layup
- Winthrop hit eight of its first 12 shots in the second half to cut the deficit to seven points
- After Gray hit 1-of-2 free throws to push the lead to 63-55, Falden scored again as this time he buried a triple to make it a five point game with 13:18 remaining
- Winthrop got another defensive stop and Falden once again knocked down a three to make it a two-point game at 63-61
- The second three from Falden made it a 13-1 run to get the Eagles within a bucket
- Trailing 65-63 the Eagles had a possession to tie the game or take the lead but committed a turnover as Ferguson was whistled for a travel
- FSU took advantage as Anthony Polite scored on a layup and then another turnover by the Eagles led to a one-and-one free throw for Polite as he made both for a 69-63 lead
- Winthrop committed a turnover for a third straight possession as Polite was involved once again as he stole the ball from Micheal Anumba and scored on the other end for a 71-63 lead and a timeout by Winthrop
- Polite scored all six points during the FSU 6-0 run that pushed the lead to eight points with just under 10 minutes to play
- Broman left the game in the early going with an injury and was uncertain to return but did so with 9:48 left and 25 seconds later buried a three on the fast break to cut the deficit to five points
- Anumba's effort on the offensive glass with 8:31 to play pulled the Eagles within three points as he boarded Ferguson's miss and made the stick back
- Coming out of the under eight media timeout FSU hit the offensive glass as Devin Vassell with the stick back for a 73-68 lead
- It was a one possession game with 5:06 to play as Pickett knocked down two free throws
- Eagles had another chance to tie the game or cut the deficit to one point but defense led to offense for the Seminoles as Kabengele blocked Pickett's shot and nine seconds later Trent Forrest scored on a drive for a 77-72 lead
- Winthrop committed another turnover and FSU took advantage to push the lead to seven points with 3:48 to play as Mann scored on a layup
- Forrest scored again for a 6-0 spurt and a nine point advantage with just over three to play
- Broman broke the run with a layup, but the Seminoles answered with four straight points for an 84-74 lead with 1:49 left
- Winthrop shot 47 percent from the field in the second half while FSU shot 45 percent
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Winthrop finished the game with 21 turnovers that led to 30 points for FSU while Winthrop scored nine points off 11 turnovers forced
- Winthrop hit 5-of-13 threes in the second half and finished 6-for-23 (26 percent) for the game
- Pickett's 19 points led four Winthrop players in double-figures as Charles Falden had a career-high 15 points, Kyle Zunic added 13 points and Micheal Anumba chipped in with 10 points
- FSU also had four players in double-figures as Terance Mann paced the Noles with 22 while Phil Cofer added while Mfiondu Kabengele and David Nichols had 10 each
- Winthrop shot 49 percent for the game while FSU shot 47 percent
- Both teams are among the nation's best in free throw shooting but were both under 70 percent in the game as Winthrop finished 12-of-19 and the Noles wer 19-for-29
- Over the final five and a half minutes, Winthrop was 1-of-7 from the field while the Seminoles were 5-of-8
- The rebounding battle was nearly even with FSU having a 37-36 edge on the glass and 11-10 in offensive rebounding
NOTABLES
- Winthrop's winning streak ended at four games as the team gets eight non-conference wins for the 5th time under Pat Kelsey
- This is also the 4th straight season with a winning record in non-conference action
- The Eagles finished with a season-low six three-pointers and have failed to hit 10 or more in a game in back-to-back games for the first time this year
- Winthrop committed 21 turnovers and have committed 20 or more in back-to-back games for the first time since mid-to-late December in 2013 when the team did so against Wofford (12-21-13) and at Hampton (12-29-13)
- Eagles finish non-conference action scoring 89.4 ppg, which is a new program record previously held by the 2015-16 squad (86.2 ppg)
- FSU was 8-of-16 from three in the first half and 0-for-6 in the second half while the Eagles were 1-for-10 in the first half and 5-of-13 in the second
- This is the first season in program history the Eagles faced two teams ranked in the Top 10 nationally when they played
- Eagles were without their leading scorer Nych Smith (16.0 ppg) as he missed the contest with an injury
- Florida State has now won 32 straight home games against non-conference competition
UP NEXT
The season within the season begins this week as the Eagles will open up Big South Conference action on the road on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. when they travel to Kimmel Arena to take on UNC Asheville.
