Tigers Drop Tight Contest to Florida State, 75-69

Dec. 12, 2010

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Deividas Dulkys hit three critical 3-point baskets in the second half Sunday to lead Florida State to a 75-69 victory over Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Dulkys led the Seminoles with 17 points, 13 coming in the second half. His 3-point basket with 3:36 to go gave Florida State a 62-61 lead and another with 1:06 left put the Seminoles up 69-65.

Florida State (7-2) hit six straight free throws in the final 38 seconds to seal the victory.

Dulkys didn’t play in Florida State’s last game, an 60-38 win over Hartford, after losing a fingernail on his non-shooting left hand in practice.

Chris Singleton added 13 for the Seminoles while senior guard Derwin Kitchen chipped in with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Demontez Stitt led Clemson with 18 points. Tanner Smith added 13 points, Jerai Grant 12 and Andre Young 11 for the Tigers.

Clemson (5-4) led 34-28 at halftime.

The score was tied four times and the lead changed hands on 10 occasions, the last one at 62-61 on the Dulkys shot.

Florida State regained the lead for the first time in 17 minutes when Dulkys’ 3-point basket with 15:31 left put the Seminoles up 38-36.

Florida State shot 43.5 percent (27 of 62) after a 51.6 percent second half (16 of 31) while Clemson hit 40.7 percent of its shots.

The Seminoles got a big boost from its bench with Okara White and Bernard James scoring nine points each.

Florida State, which connected on only 35.5 percent of its field goal tries in the half (11 for 31), jumped to an 8-2 lead to start the game but then trailed by as many as eight points just before the halftime break.