Florida State Rallies to Edge Miami, 55-53

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) – Florida State missed its first 10 shots but rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, scoring 11 consecutive points down the stretch and beating the Miami Hurricanes 55-53 Wednesday night.

Durand Scott missed driving shots on back-to-back possessions in the final 10 seconds for Miami.

Florida State (14-5 overall, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) is off to its best start in the league since 1993. That includes a win over then-No. 1 Duke on Jan. 12.

Miami (12-6, 1-3) shot 1 for 8 over the final 6 1/2 minutes and lost for the first time in nine home games this season. Malcolm Grant scored 20 for the Hurricanes.

Florida State won with only one player in double figures–Terrance Shannon had 10. The game was nearly 10 minutes old before the Seminoles sank a basket, but they trailed only 11-7.

Deividas Dulkys’ four-point play started the 11-0 run and cut the margin to 48-47. Derwin Kitchen’s driving layup gave the Seminoles their first lead, 49-48, and they led the rest of the way.

Florida State missed its final five free throws over the last 1:53 but survived a frantic finish. Grant sank a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 55-52 with 42 seconds left, and when Chris Singleton missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Hurricanes got the ball back.

Scott missed an off-balance layup with 10 seconds left, but Bernard James missed two free throws for Florida State. Scott grabbed the rebound and drove the length of the floor, then missed a reverse layup.

Miami’s Julian Gamble grabbed the rebound and passed to Grant, but the buzzer sounded before he could launch a shot.

Adrian Thomas made a 3-pointer and two free throws on consecutive possessions to give the Hurricanes their biggest lead, 24-12. But after they went up 34-24 early in the second half, Florida State slowly whittled away at the lead.

The Seminoles shot only 32 percent (18 of 56), including 5 for 26 in the first half, when they missed all eight 3-point tries. Singleton, who leads the team at 15.5 points per game, had only eight points and shot 2 for 13 from the field.

Miami played without swingman DeQuan Jones, sidelined indefinitely because of a broken right hand.

Tonight’s Starters
Starting for Miami tonight was Durand Scott, Malcolm Grant, Garrius Adams, Erik Swoope and Reggie Johnson. This is the first loss for the Hurricanes with this starting five, as they are now 3-1 with this lineup.

Lockdown Defense
The Hurricanes held the Seminoles scoreless until the 17:08 mark of the first half and kept Florida State without a field goal until there was 10:11 remaining in the half. The Seminoles shot just 19.2 percent from the field in the first half, missing their first 10 attempts, and a season-low 32.1 percent in the game.

The 19.2 percent is the lowest field goal percentage allowed in a half by Miami since holding North Florida to 19.0 percent shooting (4-21) on December 31, 2008. 

The last time Miami kept an ACC opponent under 20 percent shooting in a half was on Feb. 7, 2009, when the `Canes limited Duke to 19.4 percent (6-31) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The previous low for Florida State in a half this year was shooting 26.1 percent against now top-ranked Ohio State.

For the second time this season, the `Canes did not allow a three-pointer in the first half, as Florida State went 0-for-8 from behind the arc. Miami also held Akron (0-of-6) without a trey in the first half on Dec. 23, 2010.

Steals for Swoope
In his seventh-straight start, freshman Erik Swoope grabbed three of Miami’s five steals, a career-high.

Garrius Adams‘ eight rebounds is a season high and ties a career best.

Grant for Three
With Malcolm Grant‘s three-pointer on UM’s first possession of the game, the Hurricanes have now made a three-pointer in 278-straight games. Grant also hit a triple on the first possession of the second half, and finished with four in the game – including a key three with 42.5 seconds remaining in the game to bring the Hurricanes within two points. He has hit a three in 15 of 18 games this season, with three-plus treys nine times, including in five of the last seven games.

With 20 points versus FSU, Grant posts his sixth 20-point performance of the season and has now scored in double-digits in 10 of the last 11 games. The ACC’s 8th leading scorer entering the game, Grant’s 20 points mark a career high versus an ACC opponent. His previous ACC high was 18 on Dec. 6, 2009, at Boston College.