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Seminoles Rally For Upset

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By COREY CLARK

The Tallahassee Democrat

Published: February 8, 2009

CLEMSON, S.C. - Toney Douglas kneeled near midcourt, almost in disbelief. The buzzer sounded. The Clemson fans sat in stunned silence as the Florida State players celebrated on the Littlejohn Coliseum floor.

The Seminoles had just pulled off a once-in-a-decade type victory, storming back from a 19-point, second-half deficit to upset the No. 10 Tigers 65-61 on Saturday night.

"It's a huge win for us," said Douglas, who scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half. "We made a statement tonight. This win is going to go down in history."

Said FSU head coach Leonard Hamilton: "Obviously, this is a tremendous win for our players. Because we have so much respect for Clemson's program. They're a nationally ranked team and Oliver Purnell has done a great job with them. And they're holding a spot that we'd like to get to."

Despite shooting 30 percent in the first half, the Seminoles trailed by just eight heading into halftime.

Then the second half began. And it looked like FSU was done just two minutes in.

Trevor Booker hit a reverse layup, Demontez Stitt buried a 3-pointer from the wing, Raymond Sykes had a putback and - after a Seminole turnover - K.C. Rivers knocked down a 3 from the corner.

In all of 117 seconds, Clemson had turned an eight-point lead into an 18-point advantage.

It looked like FSU was going to suffer the same fate that No. 4 Duke did on Wednesday night, when the Tigers rolled through the Blue Devils for an emphatic 27-point win.

It didn't happen. The Seminoles were staggered, but they weren't done.

FSU was still trailing by 15 when Booker hit a 3-pointer with 8:52 remaining.

That's when freshman Solomon Alabi (17 points, nine rebounds, five blocks) scored on a nice hook shot down low to start a game-changing and possibly season-defining run.

The Seminoles outscored the Tigers 23-4 over the final nine minutes.

Douglas hit a jumper, freshman Xavier Gibson hit a big jump shot, Douglas connecting for 3 from the wing and - after Booker hit a reverse layup to extend the lead back to eight with four minutes left - Douglas scored on a driving layup to cut it to six again. Freshman Chris Singleton then threw down a dunk to cut it to four and fellow freshman Luke Loucks hit a 3-pointer from the wing to cut it to one.

When Alabi scored on a short turnaround jumper with 2:03 left, the Seminoles had their first lead since the 19:21 was left in the first half.

"It felt good," Alabi said with a smile. "It felt real good."

Douglas put the Seminoles ahead by four from the free-throw line with 13.8 seconds left. After Terrence Oglesby came down and hoisted up an off-balance, highly-contested 3 on the other end for Clemson, Singleton rose up and swatted the rebound toward half court.

As soon as DeMercy corralled the loose ball, the game was over. And Douglas was kneeling by himself. Almost in disbelief.

"We fought," Douglas said. "We never gave up. We were down 19 on the road. Against a top 10 team in the country. That's toughness and pride that came out."

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