At home again, the Seminoles end a skid at Clemson's expense.
By ZACHARY SPAIN
Published February 15, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Florida State had plenty to bounce back from when it played host to Clemson.
In the preceding week, the Seminoles lost consecutive road games to Maryland and N.C. State by double-digits. What's more, playmaking guard Tim Pickett had just five points, tying a career-low, against the Wolfpack. Then, there was the matter of avenging an earlier road loss to the Tigers, the team with the worst record in the ACC.
On Saturday, the Seminoles (17-8, 5-6) responded with a 65-52 win that leaves them in the thick of the log-jammed league standings and squarely in the NCAA Tournament hunt.
Retribution came for Pickett, as he eclipsed his scoring total last Tuesday within the first minute and on the Seminoles' first two shots. By the 17-minute mark, he had scored FSU's first 11, hitting 3-of-4 3-pointers. Florida State stretched the lead to 13-2 as a result.
"We need all those types of starts that we possibly can get," FSU Coach Leonard Hamilton said. "You don't really expect that to happen because most teams in the ACC are grinding it out. Kind of like a bar-room brawl for the entire game."
Pickett scored 15 as FSU took a 35-26 halftime lead. But after his 11-point start, he took just three shots. His final total of 16 led all scorers.
"For the first time in a long time we didn't have to totally rely on Tim Pickett for 40 minutes," Hamilton said.
But following the surge, Clemson (9-13, 2-9) actually received the game it wanted. One in which the pace was methodical and the play physical. In other words, the same plan the Tigers used when they defeated the Seminoles 53-48 Jan. 13.
"After that fast start we were able to control tempo, didn't give them a lot in transition," Clemson Coach Oliver Purnell said. "As a result we were able to chop away at the lead."
While Clemson hardly flirted with the lead in the first half - following Pickett's opening basket, the Tigers pulled within three just once, 15-12 on a layup by Akin Akingbala with 10:50 left - it was able to make a run midway through the second.
Trailing 48-36, Clemson's Chris Hobbs scored on a drive with 11:22 to go and 49 seconds later, he converted on a reverse. Forward Lamar Rice followed with a 15-foot jumper, then a breakaway dunk after ripping the ball away from Pickett to cut the FSU lead to four with 9:43 left.
But Hobbs was called for a fourth foul while covering FSU center Alexander Johnson in the post. His subsequent tantrum led to a technical foul, which stalled the Tigers' run.
Pickett made the first free throw, his only point of the second half. A minute later, Johnson converted a three-point play. He gathered a deflected pass from FSU's Andrew Wilson and scored while Clemson's Olu babalola was whistled for a blocking foul. It gave the Tigers a 52-44 deficit, which they wouldn't breach.
"(Those were the) two critical points in the game that caused Florida State to get back that working margin they had all game long," Purnell said.
