West Coast swing starts with a thud for FSU men; 'Noles fall at Cal, 77-68
The California Bears didn’t have their leading scorer on Wednesday night. Florida State’s rebounding woes made sure it didn’t matter.
The Seminoles were obliterated on the offensive glass in the first half and couldn’t get stops when it mattered most — even without having to face Cal star Andrej Stojakovic in a painful 77-68 loss at Berkeley.
Leonard Hamilton’s team needs all the wins it can get to make a run at the NCAA Tournament, and yet on Wednesday night — in a gym that was 40 percent full, against a short-handed Cal team that was 9-9 on the season coming in — the Seminoles looked sluggish at times and wound up losing yet another game on the road.
Florida State drops to 13-6 overall and 4-4 in the ACC. Cal improves to 10-9 and 3-5.
The Bears registered 15 offensive rebounds in the first half and 24 for the game, and they used them to generate 21 second-chance points. Those extra opportunities made it much easier for Cal to withstand the loss of Stojakovic, who is the No. 4 leading scorer in the ACC.
It didn’t help matters that Florida State’s two best players, Jamir Watkins and Malique Ewin, both picked up their fourth fouls with just over 13 minutes left in the second half.
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The game was tied at the time. It didn’t stay tied for long. Cal went on a game-clinching 12-2 run over the next five minutes, and the Seminoles never got closer than six the rest of the way.
Cal also had a 13-0 run in the first half and hit eight straight shots from the floor at one point.
Ewin finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds (eight of them offensive); it was his fifth straight double-double. Watkins finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds but was just 7-of-20 from the floor.
Jerry Deng added 11 points for the Seminoles. The rest of the team combined for 23 points on 17 shots. Florida State was 3-of-15 from 3-point range, while Cal was 6-of-23.
Justin Thomas, who got the start for the injured Chandler Jackson (groin injury), was 0-for-3 from the floor and scored 0 points in 25 minutes. The Seminoles also were without AJ Swinton, who has been sidelined by a lower-leg injury.
Florida State plays again on Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST at Stanford.
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