CHARLOTTESVILLE—Sophomore guard Ian Miller’s three-point basket with one second remaining provided Florida State with its winning margin in a 63-60 victory over Virginia in an Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball game at John Paul Jones Arena Thursday night (March 1).
Miller’s basket capped a 16-2 run by the Seminoles in the final 4:10 of the game after two free throws by senior forward Mike Scott gave UVa a 58-47 lead with 4:33 remaining to play. Miller had nine points in Florida State’s run and finished with a team-high 18 points for the Seminoles.
Junior guard Michael Snaer and senior forward/center Xavier Gibson each added 12 points for Florida State and Gibson had five rebounds.
Scott had a double-double with game-high totals of 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead Virginia. The 28 points are a career high for Scott in an ACC game and the double-double was the 32nd of his career (eighth this season).
Junior guard Jontel Evans added 10 points and four assists for UVa.
The victory improves Florida State’s overall record to 20-9 and the Seminoles are 11-4 in the ACC. It was Florida State’s seventh consecutive win over Virginia and the Seminoles’ 10th win the last 11 games with the Cavaliers.
The loss drops Virginia’s overall record to 21-8 and the Cavaliers are 8-7 in the ACC. It was the final home game of the regular season for UVa.
In this week’s national rankings, Florida State is ranked 22nd in both The Associated Press poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Virginia is ranked 24th in The Associated Press poll.
Florida State led by nine (29-20) at halftime, but the Cavaliers rallied early in the second half. After Gibson scored the first basket of the second half to extend Florida State’s lead to 11, UVa went on a 15-2 run to take a 35-33 lead with 15:19 to play. Sophomore guard Joe Harris scored six points for Virginia in that run.
UVa led by two at 49-47 with 6:48 to play when the Cavaliers scored nine consecutive points to take their 58-47 lead with 4:33 remaining in the game. Scott scored four points in that stretch for Virginia.
Florida State then rallied behind Miller in the closing minutes for the come-from-behind victory.
Florida State shot 51.1 percent (23-45) from the field, including 43.8 percent (7-16) from three-point range, and 76.9 percent (10-13) from the free-throw line in the game. The Seminoles out-rebounded the Cavaliers 27-21.
Virginia shot 45.5 percent (20-44) from the field, including 44.4 percent (4-9) from three-point range, and 80.0 percent (16-20) from the free-throw line.
Virginia plays its final game of the 2011-12 regular season on Sunday (March 4) at Maryland. That game is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. and will be televised by the ACC Network.
