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FSU Sloppy, But Still Cruises

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By COREY CLARK

Tribune correspondent

Published: January 4, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - They didn't shoot the ball well from the free-throw line or the 3-point line. And their star guard said they didn't play all that well defensively.

It didn't matter. Florida State, which has struggled at times putting away teams it should handle with ease, still rolled over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday.

Leading scorer Toney Douglas had a team-high 17 points, and Derwin Kitchen came off the bench to add 13 as FSU cruised to a 69-48 win at the Donald L. Tucker Center. It was the second-largest margin of victory this season for Coach Leonard Hamilton's team.

"There was a lot of penetration we gave up as guards," said Douglas, who had three of the team's 13 steals. "But you know, that's fixable. So we have to look at film, learn from it and don't let it happen when we play the next game."

The next game is against one of the top five teams in the nation. Florida State, which finishes its nonconference schedule with a 13-2 record, hosts perennial power Duke on Saturday at 2 p.m.

"Our energy and our effort has gotten a lot better on the defensive end," Hamilton said. "We've still got a ways to go with our techniques."

He then laughed before adding: "We don't have many more days to smooth it out."

Things got a little rocky for a while against the Islanders (6-8).

After jumping out to a 16-4 lead at the 12:55 mark of the first half, FSU let the visitors back into the game with cold shooting and turnovers.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi actually cut the gap to six, at 28-22, on a layup by Kevin Palmer (21 points) at the 2:33 mark of the first half.

FSU finished the first 20 minutes with a 7-1 run to take a 35-23 lead into the locker room, but the momentum didn't last.

The Seminoles didn't score for the first five minutes, and when Palmer knocked down a baseline jumper with 11:14 left, the Islanders had cut the lead to 40-34.

"We've got to eliminate these dry spells," Hamilton said. "And we had one tonight that was a little more extended than I would like."

A freshman-to-freshman connection ended the drought.

After Palmer's jumper, guard Luke Loucks drove the lane, then dumped a pass to center Xavier Gibson, who slammed home a dunk while being fouled.

The Islanders would never get any closer.

"It's funny," said Loucks, a Clearwater High graduate. "Coach Hamilton actually yelled at me after that play. Because I left my feet on the pass. That's like a cardinal rule - you don't do that."

Loucks had nine points, three assists and three steals in 20 minutes for the Seminoles, who won by 21 despite committing 16 turnovers and shooting 5-for-18 from 3-point range and 4-for-14 from the free-throw line.

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