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Noles Make Late Run To Victory

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By SCOTT CARTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 6, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - As La Salle's lead began to grow in the second half, reaching nine with 7:13 left in the game, Florida State senior guard Ralph Mims began to have flashbacks. They were the kind of memories Mims would rather toss away forever, such as an overtime loss to Cleveland State and a one-point loss to South Florida earlier this season.

To prevent another damaging defeat to FSU's bid to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade, Mims had a little talk with himself.

"I'm not losing this game," he told himself. "I've been through the losing side, and I don't want this opportunity to pass, and I'm going to do whatever it takes. This is my last year. I want to make the best of it."

Fortunately for the Noles, other guys on the team were having similar thoughts. On their way to an 81-76 victory, FSU closed with a 25-11 run that started after La Salle's Jerrell Williams hit a free throw to put the Explorers in front, 65-56.

"This basically could be our season," FSU guard Toney Douglas recalled thinking once La Salle opened its biggest lead. "If we are going to lose, then we're going to lose giving an all-out effort. But it should have never come to that."

In their final nonconference game of the regular season, FSU nearly turned over any momentum it built by knocking off Georgia Tech in its ACC opener Sunday, two days after learning freshman center Solomon Alabi (shin surgery) and forward Julian Vaughn (unknown medical condition) could be lost for the remainder of the season.

FSU led 39-38 at halftime, but La Salle had no plans to leave quietly behind Williams' 12-point, 14-rebound effort, and 16 points from guard Rodney Green. The Explorers took a 40-39 lead on Green's basket early in the second half, and they led until Jason Rich's layup with 2:46 left gave FSU a 69-68 lead.

After a free throw by Williams tied the game at 69, FSU took control for good on another layup by Rich and a Douglas score. The comeback earned FSU its 20th consecutive home victory against nonconference foes, but not the way Noles coach Leonard Hamilton would have preferred.

"It's obvious that psychologically we were pacing ourselves in the first half, and did not play with the type of energy that it's going to take for us to compete in the remainder of our schedule," Hamilton said. "We just didn't come out with the fire that it's going to take."

To help avoid what could have been a bad loss come NCAA Tournament bubble time, the Noles hit 30 of 32 free throws, including 25 in a row. In the second half, FSU was 20-for-20 from the line.

"They won the game at the line," La Salle coach John Giannini said. "It's pure and simple. They did a good job getting to the line, and they made a huge number. I think we outplayed them in other areas."

Hamilton agreed, and will remind his team of that Monday.

"The only thing I can say is that I'm hoping we learned a very valuable lesson," he said. "We had a lot of energy at the end of the game to get rebounds and blocked shots and to get steals. I think a lot of it was because we conserved so much energy in the first half.

"That's not the way you need to play this game."

INSIDE THE GAME

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Noles senior G Ralph Mims scored a career-high 19 points and held La Salle's leading scoring, G Darnell Harris, to nine.

TURNING POINT: Trailing 65-56, FSU goes on 13-3 run to change momentum of the game.

KEY STAT: FSU junior F Uche Echefu hit all 11 of his free-throw attempts, scoring a career-high 19 points.

UP NEXT: FSU travels to face Clemson on Saturday at 7 p.m.

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