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Balanced scoring paves way for 81-78 Florida State win at Louisville

On3 imageby:Corey Clark•02/04/23•

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Florida State guard Caleb Mills watches one of his 3-point attempts soar toward the basket Saturday at Louisville. (Courtesy of FSU Sports Information)

The Florida State Seminoles squandered a 15-point lead in the second half, but in the end they still did enough to pull out a conference win on the road Saturday afternoon.

Matthew Cleveland’s driving reverse layup, off a nice feed from Jalen Warley, gave the Seminoles a 78-76 lead with 1:04 left. After Florida State got a rare defensive stop, Warley then knocked down two free throws for a four-point lead with 25 seconds left.

With 14 seconds left, and the lead back down to two, Darin Green Jr. stepped to the line for the Seminoles with a chance to ice the game. The 90 percent free-throw shooter drilled his first attempt, but the second one rimmed out, giving Louisville a chance to tie it on the final possession.

Louisville then attacked the basket, and after a wild scrum in the paint, the ball was kicked out to a wide-open Mike James on the wing. His game-tying attempt bounced off the rim, and the Seminoles survived with the 81-78 victory.

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It was the seventh straight win for FSU in the series against the Cardinals.

Florida State is now 8-16 on the season and 6-7 in the ACC. Louisville falls to 3-20 and 1-11.

For one of the rare times in recent memory for the Seminoles, all five starters scored in double-figures. Freshman Cameron Corhen led the way with 16 points, Cleveland added 15 points and 10 rebounds — his first double-double in the last five games after his historical streak earlier in the year — Warley had 14 points and five assists, Green had 12 points, and Caleb Mills added 11 points and five assists.

For the first 30 or so minutes on Saturday, it looked like Florida State would cruise to an ACC win on the road, as the Seminoles were getting virtually any shot they wanted. And when Mills hit his third 3-pointer of the game with 9:12 left, the Seminoles were up 72-57 and seemed poised to put the Cardinals away for good.

But after Cleveland collected a defensive rebound on the ensuing possession, he was called for an offensive foul as he started to dribble up the court. And that’s about the time the wheels came flying off.

Louisville went on a 17-2 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes to tie the game at 74 with two minutes remaining. Corhen broke the tie with a dunk off of an offensive rebound, and then a few moments later, Cleveland gave the Seminoles the lead for good with his layup.

Florida State shot 48.4 percent for the game and was 11-of-29 on 3-point attempts. Louisville shot 46.8 percent for the game and was 10-of-28 on 3-point attempts.

And that 28th attempt for the Cardinals, which was off the mark, was the difference.

Florida State plays again at home on Wednesday night against Syracuse.

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