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Noles Go Cold, But Hold On For Win

The Associated Press

Florida State's Luke Loucks holds on to the ball as Georgia State's Joe Dukes and Ousman Krubally try to take it away.

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By COREY CLARK

The Tallahassee Democrat

Published: December 14, 2008

ATLANTA - It was almost an epic collapse.

Instead, it became another teeth-gritting, palm-sweating, relief-sighing victory for the Florida State Seminoles.

After taking a 51-32 lead on a Jordan DeMercy 3-pointer with 13 minutes left, it looked like they might actually cruise to an easy win on Saturday.

As it turned out, they had to hang on for dear life in an eventual 62-57 victory over the Georgia State Panthers at the Sports Arena.

"This team has shown that type of resilience all year," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "I'm looking on the positive side. I think these pressure games, as bad as they are on a coach, I think that we still realize our shortcomings. They're staring us right in the face. And we know we have a lot of room for improvement."

During a six-minute stretch late in the second half, the Seminoles (9-1) hit one shot from the floor, were called for two charging fouls, committed five turnovers, missed three straight free-throws and fouled GSU's Trae Goldston twice on 3-point attempts. And the 6-foot sophomore, who finished with a game-high 24 points, made all six attempts from the line to help the Panthers (3-6) cut a 19-point deficit to one with two minutes remaining.

"We just froze," FSU sophomore Jordan DeMercy said. "We keep having these freeze-periods during these last couple of games. We should be blowing these teams out, but we go six or seven minutes without scoring. I think really it's just a lack of focus."

But like they have all season long, the Seminoles still found a way to get a victory.

Two critical defensive stops in the final 90 seconds led to freshman guard Luke Loucks stepping to the free-throw line with 19.1 seconds left. He calmly drilled both shots to give Florida State a 60-57 lead.

"Coach just said 'when you go to the line, be confident,'" said Loucks, who had shot just 12 free throws all year. "He said whoever gets up there, be confident like you are in practice and knock them down. And that's what I did."

Georgia State's Leonard Mendez's ensuing 3-point attempt was off the mark, and JUCO transfer Derwin Kitchen rebounded the miss, was fouled, and made the first two free-throw attempts of his career to sew up the five-point victory.

"It's a win," said FSU senior guard Toney Douglas with a smile. "We always find a way to close out our games."

It was yet another white-knuckle ride for the Seminoles, who have won six of their nine games by five points or fewer. Their average margin of victory is 5.9 points.

"I'm just thankful we're able to win while we're going through the learning process," Hamilton said.

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