Posted by BillFromTampa

It was probably not the performance Al Thornton had in mind as Florida State’s season came to an end in losing to Mississippi State 86-71.

Although he scored 16 points in the game, it was anything but a typical game for the senior forward. Thornton picked up two fouls in the first 4:10 of the game sending him to the bench for the duration of the first half having scored just two points. The second foul, a rare charging call, came as Thornton fumbled a pass between his legs. Trying to recover the ball he slammed into the defender as he turned towards the bucket.

That play exemplified the kind of night he and the Seminoles had all game. When all was said and done, the ‘Noles had racked up 25 turnovers that led to numerous easy transition baskets for the Bulldogs, 17 in the first half alone.

Thornton’s shakiness seemed to rub off on his teammates especially his frontcourt teammates as Thornton, Ryan Reid, and Uche Echefu each had 5 turnovers.

For Thornton it was apparent early on he was just not his usual self when he missed two free throws at the 17:04 mark. He ended up shooting just 3 of 9 from the stripe although he shot well from field connecting on 6 of 10.

Leonard Hamilton summed it up this way.

“For whatever reason, we were so hyper. I’d like to think that it was Mississippi State’s defense, but we never gave them a chance to defend us early on.”

In their first seven possessions, FSU managed to turn the ball over three times.

Foul trouble didn’t help either especially on Thornton who picked up his third and forth fouls within the first five minutes of the second half to find a seat once more on the bench.

“When Al went for that steal that I thought was a bit risky and you see him pick up a charge, something you almost never see him do, I think he was just trying to make things happen,” Hamilton said.

After FSU took a 6-5 lead, FSU scored just one basket over the next five plus minutes. Even after Thornton sat down the Seminoles self destructed and committed three more miscues on its next four possessions with errant passes and fumbling the ball away.

The ‘Noles seemed to be tight and got caught up in the Bulldogs pace by playing too quickly.

If it had not been for Isaiah Swann, FSU could have been down even greater than the 42-29 halftime deficit they found themselves. Swann’s 17 first half points on the strength of five three pointers kept the Tribe relatively close. His fifth pulled FSU to within seven at 36-29 with 1:50 left in the half.

Hamilton called timeout to calm the team down in order to keep the deficit under ten points. It didn’t work as FSU imploded with a couple more turnovers leading to run out baskets by the Bulldogs.

Just to add insult to injury, Barry Stewart launched a three from near half court. The shot was short but Jarvis Varnado grabbed it over the head of Toney Douglas and put it in just before the buzzer sounded. No foul was called on the play despite Douglas being knocked down and holding his head.

Once Thornton was back in the game to start the second half he did his best to rally the Seminoles scoring seven points in the first four minutes. But his fourth foul at the 15:19 mark sent him to the bench once again.

FSU made an attempt at a comeback pulling to 63-52 after Thornton stole the ball in front of the Bulldog bench and took it the distance picking up the foul on the play. Bulldog head coach Rick Stansbury protested claiming Thornton stepped out of bounds on the play picking up a technical in the process. Indicative of how the game was going for FSU Thornton missed both technical free throws.

It would be the closest FSU would get the rest of the game although Swann’s three made it 70-57 with 7:59 to play. But with the Mississipi State defense as swarming as it was it was obvious even with that much time remaining that FSU was not going to pull out the game.

The one bright spot for the ‘Noles was Swann’s offense. The junior guard was 10-17 fro the floor including 9 of 13 from behind the arc. Swann pulled down 5 boards as well.

Douglas was the only other Seminole in double figures with 12. The rest of the team combined for just 12 points.

FSU was battered on the boards as well 39-31 giving up 20 offensive boards in the game to just 9 for the ‘Noles.

Mississippi State put six players in double digits.

Hamilton credited the Bulldogs for the win saying “we got beat by a better team.”

So the Seminole season has cone to an end finishing with a 22-13 record.

Hamilton said afterwards how the staff had to improvise all year due to injuries and defections and that “we are a much better team than we showed in this game.”