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Thrilling comeback lifts FSU Men's Basketball to 72-70 win at Wake Forest

On3 imageby:Ira Schoffel•about 11 hours•

iraschoffel

On3 image
Wake Forest Demon Deacons forward Tre'Von Spillers (25) turns to the basket against Florida State Seminoles guard Jamir Watkins (1) during the first half at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

One thing is certain: The Florida State men’s basketball team is sure going to try to send head coach Leonard Hamilton out in style.

Despite trailing by 16 points with just over eight minutes remaining Wednesday night at Wake Forest, the Seminoles stormed back and won in dramatic fashion, 72-70, against a team that has been projected to make the NCAA Tournament.

Florida State took its first lead of the second half when Taylor Bol Bowen drained a 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining. That gave the Seminoles a 70-69 advantage, and they pushed their lead to 72-69 with 2 seconds left on a breakaway dunk by Justin Thomas.

Thomas would have been better served to dribble out the clock, and Florida State almost paid a dear price for that mistake as Wake Forest inbounded the ball to leading scorer Cameron Hildreth, who was fouled while attempting a desperation shot from half court.

But Hildreth missed his first of three free throws with 0.3 seconds left, then intentionally missed the third in hopes of getting a miracle tip-in. But the ball bounced out of bounds as time expired, and the Seminoles secured the win.

“The second half, I thought our defense was a little better,” said Hamilton, whose team outscored Wake Forest, 51-35, in the final 20 minutes. “And our execution in the last 10 minutes of the game, I thought, was a lot better than it was in the first half. And we were very fortunate to come away with the victory.”

Florida State is now 2-0 since Hamilton announced he is resigning at the end of this season. With the win, the Seminoles improved to 15-9 overall and 6-7 in the ACC; Wake Forest falls to 18-7 and 10-4.

FSU was led by 15 points apiece from Bol Bowen and Jamir Watkins, and the Seminoles played the final five minutes without Watkins after he picked up his fifth foul. Center Malique Ewin added 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Thomas scored all eight of his points in the final 3:22 on a pair of 3-pointers and the breakaway dunk.

“What I’m most proud of is we didn’t get discouraged,” Hamilton said of the Seminoles’ sizable second-half deficit. “We didn’t panic. I thought we became closer as a unit as a result of the tougher the situation was. It seemed like we became closer. And hopefully that will give us some confidence moving forward.”

Florida State returns to action Saturday against visiting Clemson.

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