The Florida State Seminoles pulled off their biggest miracle of the year, knocking off the No. 13 Miami Hurricanes on the road. The Noles reign on South Florida continues. Matthew Cleveland made a heavy impact in his first game back in garnet and gold. The sophomore finished the match with 17 points. The Associated Press has the story:
FSU rallies from 25, stuns No. 13 Miami 85-84
Newslooks- CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP)
Matthew Cleveland’s 3-pointer as time expired capped Florida State’s comeback from a 25-point second-half deficit and the Seminoles stunned No. 13 Miami 85-84 on Saturday.
Jordan Miller had given Miami the lead on a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left. But Cleveland let fly from about 25 feet and the ball swished to give the Seminoles (9-20, 7-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) their best moment of the season.
They ended Miami’s seven-game winning streak and denied the Hurricanes a perfect season at home; Miami was 15-0 at the Watsco Center entering Saturday.
Cleveland and Darin Green Jr. each had 20 points for Florida State, which got 13 from Caleb Mills and 11 from Jalen Warley.
Miller led Miami (23-6, 14-5) with 21 points. Norchad Omier had 15, Isaiah Wong scored 14 and Bensley Joseph added 12 for the Hurricanes.
But Miami simply could not get stops in the second half. Florida State shot 68% in the final 20 minutes, lost the lead twice in the final 40 seconds — then stunned its biggest rival anyway.
Miami ran out to a 14-2 lead after 3 1/2 minutes, and Florida State chipped away to get within 28-23 with 8:12 left in the half.
The next seven minutes were all Miami.
It appeared a 22-2 run would essentially put the game away before halftime, pushing the Hurricanes’ lead to 50-25. Miami made eight of its final 10 shots of the half.
And then came halftime. Everything changed for the Seminoles.
The Seminoles made 10 of their first 30 shots of the game — then made 10 of their next 11, getting Miami’s lead down to 61-49 with 14:45 left. That was part of a 35-10 run that gave FSU the lead for the first time on a layup by Mills with 5:56 remaining.
The lead would change hands 10 more times down the stretch, the last of those off Cleveland’s desperation heave.
BIG PICTURE
Florida State: The Seminoles have, for now, avoided tying a school record for losses. The only FSU team to lose 21 games was the 2000-01 club, which was part of a run of five consecutive losing seasons for the Seminoles. This year will be the end of what has been a stretch of 17 consecutive winning seasons for Florida State.
Miami: The Hurricanes were without guard Nijel Pack, who was ruled out with a lower extremity injury. Miami is listing him as day to day. He’s averaging 13.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, with 41% shooting on 3-pointers.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Miami will be in the AP Top 25 for the 12th consecutive week when the latest rankings are released Monday. But the Hurricanes will likely fall a few spots.
UP NEXT
Florida State: Host North Carolina on Monday in its home finale.
Miami: Host Pittsburgh on March 4 in the regular-season finale.
