Posted by BillFromTampa

After learning less than two days ago that Florida State would not have the services of Solomon Alabi or Julian Vaughn for an indefinite period of time, Leonard Hamilton and his staff had little time in which to make adjustments to the game plan against Georgia Tech. But in that short space of time Hamilton’s staff obviously made the right changes and with the help of his depleted squad executing that new plan delivered a thrilling win over the Yellow Jackets in the opener of ACC play.

On a play where the ball was supposed to eventually go to Toney Douglas, Jason Rich received the inbound pass, saw his opening, and drove the ball three quarters the length of the floor. Pulling up from just to the right of the lane Rich nailed a jumper with 4.3 seconds left giving FSU a 66-64 victory.

Following the game Rich, who scored 11 points, said “I ain’t going to lie to you, I’m tired. But this was my last chance (at beating Tech). And now I don’t have to come up here anymore.”

And Rich had good reason to be tired with the senior guard playing 39 minutes.

In fact most of his teammates had good reason to be exhausted. Four of the remaining six players who saw the floor logged 30 or more minutes in the game.

But Hamilton did a masterful job of controlling his team’s pace when fatigue was setting in the second half and protecting his players defensively with a timely 2-1-2 zone defense that befuddled Tech for several minutes.

At least Hamilton’s decisions on the substitution patterns was easier.

Referring to the loss of two post players Hamilton said before the game that adversity has a way of bringing the best out of you. That obviously was the case for the Seminoles with the head coach praising his team’s focus and staying with the game plan.

“We played poised down the stretch getting knock ways and deflections. And the guys just made plays”, Hamilton said.

It didn’t start out that way however as the ‘Noles found themselves down 12-2 just two and half minutes into the game and starter matt Zitani on the bench already with two fouls.

That’s when Hamilton called timeout to regroup. And it paid off.

“I told them they had great shot position but that they just weren’t falling but to keep shooting”, said Hamilton. “Our transition defense was lacking as well. We weren’t getting back fast enough. We began to sprint back better and slowed their transition offense.”

A renewed defense began to force Tech into numerous turnovers. The Jackets mid-way through the half had eight miscues over ten straight possessions.

Behind four three pointers over the last 6:10 FSU managed to take a 40-34 halftime lead. Tech employed a strategy to attack the ball handler with a double team and paid the price for it. Several times a Seminole was left completely alone for the wide open three ball.

Jordan DeMercy’s three from the left wing gave FSU a 29-27 lead. After Tech tied it up Zitani nailed one from above the key. Anthony Morrow tied it at 32 with a jumper from the free throw line.

But FSU went on a 8-2 run to close out the half. With no foul called on the play Douglas was knocked to the floor losing the ball. Tech however turned it over before crossing the mid court line leaving Douglas all alone underneath the basket for an uncontested layup. He followed that with a wide open three. Douglas then stole the ball, one of his four in the game, tipping it to Rich who took it coast to coast.

Hamilton commented on the halftime margin saying “That lead gave us a confidence, attitude, and toughness that carried into the second half I felt.”

Tech made its adjustments in the locker room. One adjustment was to cut down on the turnovers. With 12 in the first half Tech did a much better job over the last twenty minutes giving the ball away just 5 more times.

Another adjustment was to attack the rim more and exploit FSU’s thinness in the front court. That led to Zitani’s third foul and a seat on the bench as well as numerous easy layups and a 44-44 tie at the 15:01 mark.

That’s when Hamilton switched up the defense with a 2-1-2 zone forcing the Yellow Jackets into jump shots that were missing the mark.

The lead jockeyed back and forth over the next eleven minutes with neither team getting out to more than a four point margin.

With FSU obviously gassed Gani Lawal’s slam dunk followed by DeAndre Bell’s jumper from the elbow gave Tech a 61-57 lead with 2:42 left in the game.

Rich closed it to 61-60 with one of two from the stripe and a steal that he took the distance. Zack Peacock countered with a layup.

With 1:00 remaining Douglas drove the ball in from the right side laying the ball in to pull FSU back within one point, 63-62.

On the next possession a key offensive foul against Georgia Tech on an illegal screen gave FSU the ball back.

Ralph Mims gave FSU a 64-63 lead on a floater from the lane.

With the shot clock and game clock nearly the same Tech ran the clock down for what looked to be the last shot of the game. Douglas who was guarding Bell ran into a screen and fell to the floor. Bell fell backwards over the sprawled Douglas drawing the foul with 9.4 seconds left. Bell however only made on of two tying the game at 64 setting up Rich’s heroics.

With no timeouts FSU inbounded the ball to Rich in the center of the floor. Tech had him poorly defended allowing Rich to dribble down the floor deep into Tech’s end of the floor.

Hamilton set his defense for the last play of the game and managed to force the ball into Peacock’s hands. Not known for his three point shooting prowess Peacock’s three fro above the key clanged off the rim giving FSU a 1-0 start in ACC play.

Douglas led all scorers with 22 points. Uche Echefu added 11 and contributed 8 rebounds as well. Mims was the other player in double figures with 10 points.

Morrow guarded by Isaiah Swann much of the game led Tech with 17 points on 7-9 shooting and 3-4 from behind the arc. Bell added 15.

Of note it was announced before the game that Zitani was awarded a scholarship that will commence next semester.

Also announced was that Alabi will have surgery on Wednesday to fix the stress fracture in his tibia and that Vaughn will see a cardiac specialist.

Next up, the Seminoles return to Tallahassee for a 7:00 PM tip off against the La Salle Explorers on Saturday January 5^th. The game is to be televised on FSN FL.