Watkins, Ewin lead FSU to 82-64 win over Winthrop in final non-conference game
It was far from crisp. And at times it was downright sloppy.
But in the end, the Florida State men’s basketball team had too much Malique Ewin, too much Jamir Watkins and too much defense for the Winthrop Eagles. The end result was an 82-64 win for the Seminoles on Tuesday night at the Tucker Center in their final non-conference game of the year.
Florida State, which hosts Louisville on Saturday afternoon in the ‘Noles’ home ACC opener, improves to 9-3 on the season. Winthrop falls to 9-4.
Ewin finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds and Watkins added a game-high 23 points, five rebounds and four assists as the Seminoles’ starters did virtually all of the scoring on Tuesday night.
Taylor Bol Bowen added his first career double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Chandler Jackson chipped in 14 points.
Justin Thomas was the only bench player to score for the Seminoles, contributing 7 points, and they committed 20 turnovers on the night. But the Florida State defense — Winthrop shot just 30 percent from the floor and was out-rebounded 48-31 — was good enough that the offensive sloppiness didn’t much matter.
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Other than a 9-0 run late in the second half (all on Bryce Baker 3-pointers) the Eagles struggled to do much of anything offensively against a Florida State team that has won two games in a row as it heads back into ACC play.
Despite the final score, the first half didn’t start out spectacularly for the Seminoles. Not only did they turn the ball over on five of their first 10 possessions, but Winthrop hit 4 of its first 5 shots from the floor to grab an early lead.
After that, though, the half belonged to Florida State. The Eagles made just 5 of their final 28 shots from the field, and Watkins and Ewin scorched them on the other end. Ewin almost had a double-double in the first 20 minutes alone, finishing the first half with 13 points and 9 rebounds.
Watkins also had 13 points during the first half, and Bol Bowen had 9 points and 5 boards as the Seminoles busted open a close game and took a 45-27 lead into halftime.
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