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Seminoles' "learning experience'' ends 66-64.
By BRIAN LANDMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 9, 2001
ATLANTA -- Appropriately enough, Florida State's worst season ended Thursday with a disappointing last-minute loss to the worst team in its conference.
Junior guard Will Solomon hit a clutch three-pointer with 1:45 left to give Clemson the lead for good en route to a 66-64 win in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament before a crowd of 22,193 at the Georgia Dome.
"This (year) was a tough learning experience for our basketball team, for our basketball program," FSU coach Steve Robinson said.
The eight-seed Seminoles (9-21) set a dubious school record for losses, surpassing their only other 20-loss season of 1951-52. This also marks the first time the Seminoles have failed to reach double-digit wins since 1958-59. No ACC team has lost this many games since Wake Forest went 8-21 in 1986.
The Tigers (12-18), who had lost both regular-season games to FSU, including last Saturday in Clemson, to finish last in the league, will play top-seeded and No. 6-ranked North Carolina (23-5) at noon today in the quarterfinals.
"We enjoyed the victory as they've been far and few," Clemson coach Larry Shyatt said. "We're very much looking forward to tomorrow and I think we'll play hard."
The Tigers remarkably split with the Tar Heels, losing 92-65 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 17 but then stunning UNC 75-65 in Clemson on Feb. 18.
But for a moment, the Seminoles looked as though they might extend their season.
To begin with, at tipoff, the Seminoles learned sophomore center Mike Mathews would be unable to play after suffering a back injury Monday. He scored 13 in Saturday's win against Clemson and led the team in blocks with 44.
Then, star senior point guard Delvon Arrington picked up his third foul with 15:16 left in the first half and sat out.
Still, freshman forward Michael Joiner and junior forward Antwuan Dixon, a native of nearby Marietta kept the Seminoles in the game by combining for 18 points to give FSU a 30-27 halftime lead.
The Tigers rallied and opened up an eight-point lead late in the second half before Dixon helped bring back FSU. A three-point play gave him a career-best 23 points and gave his team a 62-61 lead with 3:29 left.
After a Clemson turnover, Arrington missed a wide-open jumper. Seconds later, junior guard Monte Cummings, the Seminoles' leading free-throw shooter (75.5 percent), missed twice from the line.
"We had opportunities," Robinson said. "We just didn't have the plays go in our favor."
The Tigers did, thanks to Solomon, the league's third-leading scorer who had been struggling with his shot all night (3-of-14 beforehand). But at the most crucial moment, he took a feed from reserve junior guard Dustin Braddick on the left wing, pumped to get Arrington in the air and calmly swished a three-pointer over a leaping Dixon for a 64-62 lead.
"I just shot it and it went in," Solomon said. "I have to credit my teammates. They all ran the floor. Tony (Stockman), Dustin and I were all back, so they had to split up and guard us. Two went to Tony and one went to Dustin and that left me wide open."
Said Arrington: "He's a person who it's almost impossible to stop completely. He made the big shot they needed."
Senior guard Adrian Crawford misfired on a three-pointer and Clemson sophomore guard Ed Scott sealed the win with two free throws with 9.9 seconds left.
"I appreciate the fact that my teammates never gave in, never quit," Dixon said. "We worked hard all season. We never quit. We never threw in the towel."