Saturday, March 14, 2009
Seminoles squeak by
ATLANTA -- Everybody at the Georgia Dome thought that Florida State was going to Toney Douglas with time running down and the Seminoles trailing Georgia Tech by one point.
Maybe that's why Derwin Kitchen had such a clear path to the basket.
Kitchen, a transfer from Iowa Western Community College, scored on a driving layup and added a free throw with 7.7 seconds left as fourth-seeded FSU edged 12th-seeded Georgia Tech 64-62 in ACC Tournament quarterfinal action
The Seminoles (24-8) meet North Carolina in the semifinals at 1:30 p.m. today. The Tar Heels (27-3) advanced with a 79-76 victory over Virginia Tech.
Florida State had little opportunity to look ahead to North Carolina, which almost certainly will be without point guard and ACC player of the year Ty Lawson, who has a sprained toe that kept him in street clothes Friday.
The Seminoles got all they wanted from Georgia Tech, which had taken a 62-61 lead on a Zach Peacock jumper with 29.8 seconds left.
That was followed by two timeouts, the second called by Florida State's Douglas, who was surrounded by three defenders when he got an official's attention with 9.9 seconds left.
"We were going to try and keep the ball out of Toney Douglas' hands," said Tech coach Paul Hewitt when asked later about his team's strategy.
Douglas never touched the ball. Kitchen took a pass from Luke Loucks along the left sideline, beat his man to the basket and had the presence to attempt a reverse layup and not challenge Georgia Tech's big men.
Kitchen gained a reprieve after his turnover with 47 seconds left had given Georgia Tech possession prior to Peacock's go-ahead basket.
"I was struggling the whole night," said Kitchen, who was 2-for-8 from the field until that point and had committed eight turnovers. "Just to bounce back from a terrible game, that was big."
Douglas finished with a team-high 25 points and the Seminoles got 14 points and six rebounds from redshirt freshman Solomon Alabi, who was 7-for-10 from the floor.
Georgia Tech's Lewis Clinch also had 25 points on an afternoon when he attempted 18 3-pointers, making seven.
"We've done a pretty good job when we focus on one particular player that we have to contain," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "But tonight, we really didn't have an answer for him."
Georgia Tech (12-19) lost four games this season that were decided by one or two points, and that didn't count three overtime losses.
"Unfortunately for us this year, more people made plays at the end than we would have liked," coach Paul Hewitt said.
GEORGIA TECH (12-19)
Lawal 4-9 3-4 11, Peacock 2-5 2-2 6, Clinch 9-23 0-0 25, Shumpert 4-9 2-4 11, Miller 0-3 0-0 0, Foreman 0-0 0-0 0, Storrs 0-1 2-2 2, Sheehan 0-2 0-0 0, Aminu 2-6 3-5 7. Totals 21-58 12-17 62.
FLORIDA ST. (24-8)
Echefu 2-8 2-2 6, Alabi 7-10 0-0 14, Kitchen 3-9 2-3 8, Douglas 11-16 0-1 25, Singleton 2-5 0-0 5, Gibson 2-3 0-0 4, DeMercy 0-2 0-0 0, Loucks 0-2 0-0 0, Dulkys 1-2 0-0 2, Hoff 0-0 0-0 0, Reid 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 4-6 64.
Halftime--Florida St. 33-27. 3-Point Goals--Georgia Tech 8-25 (Clinch 7-18, Shumpert 1-4, Storrs 0-1, Miller 0-2), Florida St. 4-14 (Douglas 3-5, Singleton 1-2, Echefu 0-1, DeMercy 0-1, Dulkys 0-1, Loucks 0-2, Kitchen 0-2). Fouled Out--None. Rebounds--Georgia Tech 34 (Lawal 7), Florida St. 35 (Alabi 6). Assists--Georgia Tech 12 (Miller 5), Florida St. 13 (Kitchen 5). Total Fouls--Georgia Tech 14, Florida St. 18. A--26,352.
