National Basketball Association
Miami-Florida 81, Florida St. 77
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Where: BankUnited Center, Coral Gables, Florida
Officials:
# Jeffrey Anderson, # Brian Dorsey, # Tim Kelly
Attendance:
5857
By SportsDirect Inc.
Miami (Fla.) 81, Florida State 77: Angel Rodriguez scored 25 points and dished out five assists as the host Hurricanes held off a furious comeback attempt from the Seminoles in ACC play.
Sheldon McClellan added 19 points for Miami (18-10, 8-7 ACC), which won for the third time in its last four outings. Davon Reed finished with 18 points and eight rebounds while Tonye Jekiri scored 12 to go along with a game-high 11 boards for the Hurricanes, who dominated on the glass 37-23.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes tied a career high with 35 points while setting a new personal best with six 3-pointers to pace Florida State (15-14, 7-9), which lost its second straight game and fell to 4-4 in the month of February. Montay Brandon added 11 points for the Seminoles, who were essentially a two-man show with everyone other than Rathan-Mayes and Brandon shooting a combined 10-for-26.
Florida State held the lead late into the first half, jumping ahead 20-18 on a layup from Kiel Turpin with 5:25 left until halftime before Miami used nine unanswered points, including five from Reed to take a 27-20 advantage. After the Seminoles answered with a 3-pointer from Jarquez Smith and a bucket from Devon Bookert to trim the deficit to two points with a little more than 1 1/2 minutes remaining in the half, Jekiri converted a pair of free throws to send the Hurricanes into the locker room with a 29-25 halftime lead.
Brandon converted two layups and split a pair of free throws in the opening minutes of the second half to draw Florida State within a single point before a 20-8 surge, featuring 11 points from McClellan, opened up a 51-38 Miami edge with 9:26 remaining. With the Hurricanes leading 62-44 with 4:46 to play, Rathan-Mayes caught fire, scoring 26 straight points for the Seminoles to get within 73-70 with just over a minute to play but after a 3-pointer from Robbie Berwick had Florida State within 76-73 with 23 seconds left, McClellan, Jekiri and Reed combined to sink five free throws to offset four from Rathan-Mayes in the final seconds to give Miami just enough to squeak out the win.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Miami improved to 26-12 at home against Florida State. ... Bookert, who entered play averaging 10.5 points, struggled for the second straight game, finishing with seven points on 2-of-9 shooting after turning in a one-point performance last time out. ... Jekiri, who came into the game leading the ACC with a rebounding average of 11.7, has grabbed 56 boards over the course of the last four games.
Top Game Performances
Florida St. |
|
Miami-Florida |
Xavier Rathan-Mayes 35 |
Scoring |
Angel Rodriguez 25 |
Xavier Rathan-Mayes 5 |
Assists |
Angel Rodriguez 5 |
Montay Brandon 5 |
Rebounds |
Tonye Jekiri 11 |
Xavier Rathan-Mayes 9 |
Free Throws Made |
Angel Rodriguez 9 |
Montay Brandon 2 |
Steals |
Angel Rodriguez 3 |
Boris Bojanovsky 1 |
Blocks |
Tonye Jekiri 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Florida St.
|
77 |
48.0 |
10-21 |
19-27 |
9 |
19 |
1 |
3 |
11 |
Miami-Florida
|
81 |
47.9 |
4-16 |
31-38 |
9 |
31 |
2 |
5 |
9 |