The 15th basketball game in the state of Florida narrowly beat North Carolina 69-66 in the semifinals of the ACC tournament tonight. O’Noles had an 11 point lead, but Tar Heels came out of the locker room on fire. The FSU was able to withstand the storm and limit the damage to stay within it and the defense advanced late. The Seminoles held UNC to two points in the last 3:14 of the game and made enough plays on the offensive side to advance to the ACC Tournament title game.
MJ Walker opened the scoring in a transition pause after a good feed from Balsa Koprivica. In addition to the transition bucket, the Seminoles rusted early. FSU turned the ball twice in the first three minutes, including a communication failure between Tanor Ngom and RaiQuan Gray. O’Noles received open looks early, but failed to convert. In the first four minutes, the teams combined to make two of 15 shots. Tar Heels led 4-2 in the first media timeout.
Malik Osborne took the Seminoles well beyond the time limit. Osborne hit all the nets in a triple corner after a great find by Scottie Barnes. Osborne scored the second consecutive three in the opposite corner, two minutes later, to give the ‘Noles an 8-6 lead. Scottie Barnes provided an initial highlight with a slam poster about Walker Kessler in the transition. The dunk gave the State of Florida a 12-6 timeout advantage for children under 12.
The Seminoles quickly opened a nine-point lead, with Balsa Koprivica hitting a basket while being knocked down by Kessler by one and one. UNC responded quickly with buckets on his next two possessions from Garrison Brooks and RJ Davis. Barnes’ aggression changed the momentum in favor of the Seminoles. The freshman nailed Brooks in a one-on-one break after a steal and converted it into a tough basket for an e-one. Koprivica hit a hook in an iso play when the Seminoles took the double-digit lead. FSU led 24-13 in the sub-8.
The Seminoles and Tar Heels went cold for the next three minutes. Both teams made only one shot. Leonard Hamilton asked for a time after a mid-range jumper Anthony Harris reduced FSU’s lead to nine with 4:16 remaining at halftime. Anthony Polite put the Seminoles back on the scoring column with a float outside the glass in the painting. Walker followed with an aggressive view of the next FSU possession to push the lead to 13.
Tar Heels began to increase his defensive intensity in the next few minutes. Pressure across the court led to an FSU turnover and two free throws by Walker Kessler that reduced the advantage to single digits. Gray silenced a growing UNC crowd with a crucial mid-range jump in Brooks’s face. After a triple of Caleb Love coming from the city center, Osborne drained a triple of step back when the doorbell rang in the middle. His third triple made an advantage of 35-24 FSU by going to the locker rooms.
The Seminoles hit 47% of the ground, while UNC hit just 27% of the shots. Tar Heels only made a triple and Osborne had all three FSU’s. The state of Florida has 22 paint points against eight from the UNC. Tar Heels had 11 more attempts at free throws than the Seminoles, but made just five more. The ‘Noles did a solid job of rebounding against the UNC bigs, limiting Tar Heels to nine offensive strokes and overcoming them in one hit. Osborne’s nine points paved the way. Koprivica had seven points and seven bags at halftime.
Armando Bacot kicked Tar Heels off with the right foot to start the part. The great man converted one and one to quickly limit the deficit to 8. The Seminoles turned the ball in their first two possessions. After another bucket of Bacot, Koprivica made the first FSU basket in half on a put-back. Caleb Love drained his second triple of the day of a Walkover turnover to reduce the deficit to four just four minutes before the break. Hamilton made his second timeout with FSU at 40-36 with 15:33 remaining.
FSU used his defense to balance the momentum back in his favor. Sardaar Calhoun stole Kerwin Walton’s ball from the court and hit home for an easy dunk. Tanor Ngom took action in the next UNC tenure, as he drew a charge on Love. After the first media timeout of the semester, Walton responded with his first triple to reduce the FSU lead to three. Koprivica increased the lead to six with a dunk in Barnes’s assist, but Walton did not miss. With a theft and a long offensive plaque, Walton drained another to tie the game. A difficult move by Bacot gave Tar Heels the first advantage since six minutes into the game. UNC led 48-46 with 11:32 remaining after Hamilton’s third timeout.
The Tar Heels continued to dominate the ‘Noles with their size after the time limit. Day’Ron Sharpe converted one and one to give the Heels a five-point lead. Sharpe took advantage of a confrontation with Polite in the next possession for another easy bucket. Four consecutive points from Barnes brought the ‘Noles back in three. The ‘Noles resumed the lead after two free throws from Gray, one from UNC and the other from Koprivica in a Barnes feed. The state of Florida led 54-53 in the media timeout for children under 8 years old.
North Carolina’s Leaky Black made it one by two at the time limit to equalize with 7:47 left. At the other end, Walker hit two to two to gain a two-point lead. Koprivica finished a transitional bucket to extend the lead to four, with six minutes to go. Love tied the game at 59 with a three point gap behind Koprivica, but Calhoun responded in possession of the next ball with a triple of his own. Calhoun missed Davis in a three-point attempt to take the game to the last media timeout. FSU took 62-61, but Davis would shoot three after the TO.
Davis did all three at halftime to give UNC a two point lead with 3:14 remaining. Love was called for an offside foul on the next possession, but Polite missed the first submission to end possession. A breach of the UNC possession timer returned the ball to ‘Noles and Polite made up the missed free throw with a corner kick three to give the FSU a one point lead with 1:46 remaining.
An empty ball possession after an ugly kick by Caleb Love put the ball back in FSU’s hands. Walker made a hard basket out of the paint, but the bucket was overturned by a load. The defense of the State of Florida increased again, as Davis failed to make a contested tray and Gray grabbed the board. Gray hit both free throws to give FSU a three-point lead 35 seconds from the end.
Tar Heels lost his seventh straight field goal, but Barnes was called in by a rebounding foul to put Sharpe on the line. It was not expensive for the FSU, as Sharpe missed both free throws. Koprivica made one of two on the line to give FSU an advantage of two possessions 16 seconds from the end. Leaky Black put back an air ball to make the two point game with three seconds remaining. Walker went one to two from the line to make it a three-point lead with a second remaining. The Tar Heels were unable to connect at the last second and the ‘Noles danced until the final of the ACC Tournament.
The state of Florida hit 45.3% of the ground and had 5-13 points beyond the arc. UNC shot just 33.8% and missed 11 of his 25 free throws. Koprivica paved the way for FSU with 17 points and 11 scholarships. Barnes had 11 points, five scholarships and four assists.
The State of Florida will play Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at 8:30 pm on ESPN tomorrow night for the ACC tournament title.