Clemson Falls To Florida State, 75-63

March 3, 2001

By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press Writer

CLEMSON, S.C. – Michael Joiner had 14 points and Mike Mathews added 13 as Florida State beat Clemson 75-63 on Saturday.

The Seminoles (9-20, 4-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) ended the first half on a 30-9 run, including hitting 10 of their last 11 shots. Mathews hit all nine of his first half points during the run, which ended with a 50-31 lead for the Seminoles.

Clemson (11-8, 2-14) would battle back in the second half, closing to within nine on Ray Henderson’s free throw with 4:22 left. But a basket by Joiner, then two 3-pointers by Delvon Arrington put the Seminoles back up 71-55 with 2:56 left.

Clemson managed one more rally, getting baskets by Tomas Nagys and Chris Hobbs, as well as a 3-pointer from Tony Stockton to close to 71-60 with 1:36 left. But Andrew Wilson got a layup with 57.5 seconds left to put the Tigers away.

Saturday’s regular season finale for both teams meant little beyond who would get the eighth seed and wear the home jerseys as they play each other again in Thursday’s play-in game at the ACC Tournament in Atlanta. Clemson’s loss gave the Tigers their second straight last-place finish in the league.

Tony Stockman scored a game-high 20 points for the Tigers. Will Solomon added 11 points for Clemson, but did not score on 0-for-4 shooting in the second half.

Clemson fell behind 13-4 with 15:24 left in the first half before going on a 18-7 run behind two 3-points each by Will Solomon and Tony Stockman to take a 22-20 lead with 9:48 left. Two free throws by Arrington tied the game at 22 and Florida State never trailed again.

The Seminoles shot nearly 59 percent in the first half (17-of-29) and 48 percent (26-of-54) for the game. Clemson shot just over 37 percent (21-of-56) from the field.