Clemson Falls In Overtime To Florida State

March 7, 2002

By DAVID DROSCHAKAP Sports Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Delvon Arrington scored a career high 24 points as Florida State salvaged what has been a disappointing stretch run with a 91-84 overtime win against Clemson in the first round of the ACC tournament Thursday night.

The Seminoles (12-16) upset then-No. 1 Duke on Jan. 6, but had done little since in the Atlantic Coast Conference, going 3-11 the last two months before holding off the Tigers and advancing to play top-seeded Maryland in one of four quarterfinal games Friday.

Eighth-seeded Florida State fell behind by nine with 6:48 left in regulation, but went on a 14-2 run to take the lead late. The Seminoles then watched Tomas Nagys tip in a missed shot by Jamar McKnight with 0.6 seconds left in regulation to send the game into an extra five-minute period tied at 67.

However, the Seminoles wasted little time turning the momentum around. Monte Cummings sank a free throw and Michael Joiner hit a 3-pointer in the first 1:02 of the overtime and the Seminoles never trailed.

Nagys, who had a season-high 18 points and matched his career-best with nine rebounds off the bench, missed two free throws to start Clemson’s slide in OT, and the ninth-seeded Tigers (13-17) missed their first six shots from the field to fall behind 79-69.

Florida State, which struggled most of the night at the foul line, made 14-of-18 over the final 1:36 to nail down the win after losing nine of 10 coming in.

Arrington’s previous best was 23 points against Virginia in January 2001. Cummings added 17 points and Joiner 15.

Edward Scott led the Tigers, which shot just 37 percent, with 23 points, but the point guard was 9-for-24 from the field.

Nagys was forced to play more minutes because of foul trouble against Clemson inside men Chris Hobbs and Ray Henderson – and the junior responded. He was 5-for-6 from the field and 7-of-10 from the foul line to add punch to an offense that struggled most of the night.

Clemson led 55-52 before Scott hit a 3-pointer and two 18-footers in a two-minute span to put the Tigers up by nine.

But the Seminoles came charging back as Cummings, who had missed 11 of his first 15 shots, hit a banker with 1:34 left to give Florida State the lead and Arrington added a 10-footer a minute later to set up a hectic final seconds of regulation.

The Tigers fell to 13-49 all-time in the ACC tourney.