UVa falls to FSU

by Whitey Reid on February 4th, 2012

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—What a wild one!

No. 16 Virginia has lost to No. 19 FSU, 58-55.

UVa was led by Mike Scott and Joe Harris, who each scored 16 points.

Here’s a brief recap. Be sure to check out my full game story later.

Jontel Evans cut the FSU lead to three with 1:01 left in the game. Akil Mitchell then stole a Michael Snaer entry pass and Virginia called timeout with 34.3 seconds remaining.

With about 16 seconds, Joe Harris launched a 3 off a pass from Sammy Zeglinski that could have tied the game, but it went in and out.

Virginia trailed 23-22 at the break, but FSU started the second half strong. An Xavier Gibson dunk off a nice feed from Michael Snaer started a 7-1 spurt that was capped by a Deividas Dulkys 3-pointer that put the Seminoles up 30-24.

UVa went the first 5:05 without a field goal before Scott scored on a fastbreak layup that came off an FSU turnover.

The Seminoles took a 37-29 lead following an Okaro White layup and an Ian Miller jumper in transition, which came after Malcolm Brogdon couldn’t handle a pass from Jontel Evans.

FSU then took a 42-29 lead, its biggest of the game, on a White dunk before Virginia, shockingly, reeled off baskets on seven straight possessions to take a 45-44 lead. The 16-2 run was highlighted by the last guy you’d expect—Evans, who scored six of the points. One of his hoops came on a pretty drive to the hoop after he had executed a great ball fake. The other came when he stole the ball and raced the length of the court for a layup.

FSU, though, answered with a 5-0 run to take a 49-45 lead with 3:36 remaining.

Virginia trimmed the lead to 50-48 after a Harris 3-pointer

It was a sloppy, yet entertaining first half. The teams combined for 23 turnovers.

For Virginia, it was the same old story—lots of scoring from Scott and not much from anybody else.

Virginia hit four of its first seven shots to start the game. Sammy Zeglinski set Scott up for two baskets—the first a jumper, the second a wide-open dunk—to give UVa an 8-6 lead.

FSU was aggressive on the glass early, scoring twice on put-back baskets by Gibson and Bernard James.

After the first television timeout, Virginia began to self-destruct. FSU, which came into the game leading the ACC in steals, forced UVa into turnovers on four straight possessions and took a 13-8 lead after White hit a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down and then converted on a slicing layup.

Trailing 17-10, Virginia clawed back into the game via a 7-0 spurt. Joe Harris drilled a 3-pointer and then Scott connected on four straight free throws—the first two coming as a result of a flagrant foul call on Gibson.

A Brogdon drive pulled Virginia to 23-22 at the break.

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