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FSU Basketball overcomes sluggish start, beats Wake Forest in finale

By Jason Parker

MIAMI, FLORIDA - JANUARY 27: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles dribbles with the ball against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half at Watsco Center on January 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - JANUARY 27: Terance Mann #14 of the Florida State Seminoles dribbles with the ball against the Miami Hurricanes during the second half at Watsco Center on January 27, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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FSU basketball couldn’t buy a basket in the start of their regular season finale, but finished strong heading into next week’s ACC tournament.

After clinching the double bye in next weekend’s conference tournament in Charlotte, the FSU basketball team acted like they were just going through the motions at the start of their regular season finale against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons before waking up and remembering just how bad the Deacs were.

Once the Seminoles played like they are capable of, the tone of the game changed in a major way and head coach Leonard Hamilton’s team left Winston-Salem with their program record 25th regular season win – and record 13th ACC win for a season – with the 65-57 victory on Saturday afternoon.

When I mean it was a bad start, the Seminoles found themselves down by 12 points early on and could only get within a single point in the half – as Christ Koumadje was the only starter to score in the half – as Wake Forest took a seven point lead into the locker room with the Seminoles shooting 32 percent from the field and just two of 13 from the three point line.

The second half saw FSU basketball remembering there was a game to play and on several occasions cutting the deficit back down to one point – including on back to back dunks from Terance Mann and Mfiondu Kabengele.

Wake Forest led by five points in the second half when the Seminoles went on a 18-0 run and the game was put away from that point – even with a late run from Wake that included a three pointer with seconds to go – to escape with the eight point win as Trent Forrest was the only Seminole in double figure with 11 points.

The Seminoles had been tied entering the game with two other teams in program history to win 24 games in a regular season – including the 1971-72 team that went on to play for the national title – and enter Charlotte with wins in 12 of their last 13 games after starting conference play with just a 1-4 record.

With the double bye for the second time in program history, FSU basketball now waits until Thursday to kick off the ACC Tournament – where they will play at 2:30 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 5 seed Virginia Tech and the winner of Tuesday’s game between No. 12 Miami and No. 13 Wake Forest.

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