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FSU finds defense in time

Seminoles shut down Clemson's top scorer in second half of 68-63 win.

By ALEX ABRAMS
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 25, 2002

TALLAHASSEE -- With four seconds remaining in Thursday night's game against Florida State, Clemson point guard Tony Stockman stood at halfcourt with his hands on his waist and a bewildered look on his face. He appeared lost.

His shot, which had propelled the Tigers through much of the first half, was nowhere to be found.

After scoring 20 through the first 12 minutes, three shy of his career high, Stockman was held to two free throws in the second half as FSU edged Clemson 68-63.

"We needed to know where (Stockman) was at," FSU coach Steve Robinson said. "It was pretty evident that he could shoot the basketball. It didn't take us long to figure that one out, but we just couldn't do anything about it in the first half."

That is where the home crowd of 5,651 came in.

Each time Stockman got the ball in the second half, a deafening cheer of "Stockman!" erupted from the fans in the Leon-County Civic Center. Flustered by the noise, the Clemson guard missed all four of his field-goal attempts in the second half.

Not even the FSU players could block out the cheers.

"This was one of the few times that I can ever remember my players coming over to the bench and saying, "Coach, we can't hear each other out on the floor during timeouts,' " Robinson said. "I said, "That was great. Don't you understand, that's college basketball right there.' "

With Stockman struggling, FSU outscored Clemson 31-22 in the second half.

The Seminoles trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half but used a 14-2 run to take the lead.

With 3:17 left, shooting guard Monte Cummings hit a difficult runner in the lane to tie the score at 60. Point guard Delvon Arrington made two free throws soon afterward to give FSU its first lead since 11-10 with 15:28 left in the first half.

The Seminoles never relinquished the lead.

"It is hard and this league is tough, but you just hope your guys can step up and compete every time they step out on the floor," Robinson said. "We have been very fortunate at home, and we have to tip our hats to our fans."

Stockman finished with 22 points.

The Seminoles (10-7, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) used four different defenders on Stockman, hoping to contain him. None proved too effective in the first half as Stockman made 7 of 13 shots, including six 3-pointers.

With 7:41 left in the half, Stockman had as many points as the entire FSU team. Relying on the sophomore's hot hand, the Tigers held a 30-20 lead.

Robinson, unsure how to stop the onslaught, had freshman guard J.D. Bracy try to guard Stockman. Bracy's quickness and aggressiveness threw off Stockman's rhythm, and he failed to score the rest of the half.

"I definitely think (Stockman's poor shooting) was attributed to good pressure they put on him, and Stockman not getting off of screens and freeing himself or going to the free-throw line," Clemson coach Larry Shyatt said. "Now he's only relying on the deep ball."

FSU shooting guard Monte Cummings shot 5-for-9 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line to finish with a team-high 17 points. Small forward Antwuan Dixon added 15 points and four rebounds.

Junior center Mike Matthews started his first game of the season in place of Nigel Dixon, who has struggled. Matthews grabbed five rebounds in 11 minutes and became the 11th player in school history with 70 career blocks.

Arrington had two steals to give him 200 for his career. He is the fifth player in ACC history to have 1,000 points, 600 assists and 200 steals.

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