FSU Basketball: ‘Noles Beat Davidson in NIT First Round

FSU basketball took on the Davidson Wildcats in the first round of the NIT tournament. The ‘Noles showed out in front of their home crowd to advance to the second round.

FSU basketball side note: I wrote these in sort of live blog format to try to give you a better flow of the game for those that didn’t get a chance to watch live.

Related Story: 'Noles Path to NIT Quarterfinals

1st half

Both teams start out slow with Dwayne Bacon shooting a terrible jump shot early in the shot clock on FSU’s first possession and Xavier Rathan-Mayes shooting a three pointer than hit all glass and no rim.

Davidson scored in the paint on back-to-back possessions before the ‘Noles finally get on the board in the paint.

Davidson led FSU basketball 12-8 with 14:30 remaining in the first half. The Wildcats have hit on 2-4 from long-range which is the difference in the game at this point as both teams are shooting over 50 percent.

Devon Bookert with a nice steal, layup plus the foul and conversion at the free throw line to cut the lead to 12-11 at the 13:39 mark.

Jarquez Smith was making his presence felt inside with two dunks, one-off a beautiful alley from Devon Bookert to put the ‘Noles up 15-14 a the 11:53 mark.

FSU basketball was shooting 50 percent from the floor, but 0-3 from beyond the three-point line. The ‘Noles are forcing Davidson to play their type of up-and-down game, pushing the ball up court off defensive rebounds.

A three ball from Malik Beasley pushed the lead to 22-17 with 7:31 remaining in the first half. Another strong low post move from Jarquez Smith gets the shot and converts at the foul line for the old school three-point play to push the lead to 26-20 with 5:08 remaining.

A Terrance Mann dunk off an offensive rebound pushes the lead to 28-20 with 3:28 remaining in the half. It’s the clear the ‘Noles have the size and athletic advantage.

However, the three-point shot kept Davidson within striking range as they made two of them with less than two minutes remaining in the half to cut the lead to 30-26 at the half.

Davidson shot 32.1 percent overall and 35.3 percent from long-range (6-17). FSU basketball shot 38.7 percent overall and 14.3 percent from long-range (1-7). ‘Noles had the rebounding advantage and were amazingly 5-6 from the free throw line.

2nd Half

The second half began with Davidson getting the ball first and missing a three-point attempt. FSU basketball doing a great job of getting defensive rebounds and holding Davidson to one shot most of the time.

Both team come out cold with only one free throw accounting for the scoring in the first two minutes of the second half. Both teams just missing shots.

The ‘Noles were playing excellent on the ball defense, forcing Davidson to really work to get a good shot. A Montay Brandon offensive rebound and put back pushes the Nole lead to nine at the 14:19 mark.

Timeout Davidson.

Davidson comes out of the time out and gets two points to cut the lead to 41-34. The three-point shooting for Davidson continues to keep them close anytime it looks like the ‘Noles will pull away.

The score is 45-43 with 11:45 remaining with Davidson having all the momentum.

Timeout FSU basketball. FSU promptly comes out of the timeout and scores going to the basket. Davidson nails a long three to cut the lead to one, but Malik Beasley answers quickly with a jump shot.

Beasley then nails a three off an offensive rebound to push the lead back to 52-46 with just over 10 minutes remaining. The pace of the game really picked up with the ‘Noles taking a 58-50 lead with 8:30 left in the game.

Davidson has made 10 three pointers to FSU’s two which is the only thing keeping them in the game. An excellent rebound and pass in transition puts the ‘Noles up 60-52 with 7:27 remaining.

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Dwyane Bacon pushes the lead to 11 with an old school three-point play with 6:58 remaining. FSU basketball then goes on a quick run to push the lead to 71-57 with just over four minutes remaining.

Davidson wouldn’t go away quietly as three-pointer but he lead to 10 with 1:56 remaining. Another three pointer off a FSU turnover cut the lead to seven with 1:46 remaining.

Davidson wouldn’t get any closer as the ‘Noles made free throws off a technical foul called on the Davidson coach.

FSU defeats Davidson 84-74.