It wasn’t pretty, but Florida State managed to hold off a late rally by Stetson to earn its third straight victory at the Donald L. Tucker Center on Monday afternoon, 63-59.
Florida State led 29-26 at the break and by as many as eight on four separate occasions in the second half. Stetson used a 7-1 run to draw to within two at 54-52 with just under three minutes to play, but Florida State answered with six straight points including four by Xavier Rathan-Mayes, to earn the victory.
Stetson’s Kentwan Smith led all scorers with 21 points. Angel Rivera added 13 for the Hatters and Kyle Sikora finished with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Florida State (7-5) shot 47 percent from the field, but went just 2-for-11 from downtown and 15-for-26 from the charity stripe.
Stetson (3-10) outrebounded the Seminoles 38-35 and came down with 14 offensive rebounds, which allowed the Hatters to stay in the game. Stetson also made seven 3-pointers compared to FSU’s two.
Montay Brandon paced the Seminoles with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting and 6 rebounds. Rathan-Mayes scored 14 points and dished out a game-high 7 assists.
Kiel Turpin and Devon Bookert each scored 8 points. Freshman Phil Cofer scored 7 points and grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds.
Florida State has now won three straight games after a 4-5 start and will have more than a week to prepare for rival Florida, who will face the Seminoles next Tuesday night at the Tucker Center. Stetson will host Florida Tech that afternoon.
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