Florida State falls short vs. Syracuse in ACC tourney

JJ Starling finished with 27 points and five rebounds to help 14th-seeded Syracuse hold off No. 11 seed Florida State for a 66-62 victory on Tuesday night in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Charlotte, N.C.

The Orange (14-18) advanced to the second round and will play the No. 6 seed SMU Mustangs (22-9) on Wednesday night. Syracuse won back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 7 and 11.

For the 11th-seeded Seminoles (17-15), the loss finished their season and marked the end of longtime coach Leonard Hamilton's career. Former FSU player Luke Loucks will take over as the Seminoles' new coach next season.

Hamilton nearly watched Florida State pull out one more victory as it cut a late 16-point deficit to make it a one-score game in the closing seconds.

Syracuse led 50-34 with 13:15 left before the Seminoles went on a 10-0 run.

Back-to-back layups by Starling snapped a six-minute, 19-second scoring drought for the Orange. Florida State kept chipping away, though, and cut its deficit to 58-54 with a free throw by Jamir Watkins, who led the Seminoles with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Three Watkins free throws cut Florida State's deficit to just three points, 62-59, with 48 seconds left.

Daquan Davis stole the ball off a deflected inbounds pass and Seminoles forward Malique Ewin scored on a layup to cut the Orange's lead to 62-61 with 9.4 seconds left.

Syracuse missing 10 of its first 18 free throws contributed to Florida State's comeback, but the Orange made four in the final 5.5 seconds to seal the outcome.

Kyle Cuffe Jr. made the first two. Syracuse then fouled Davis with 2.6 seconds left. He made the first and intentionally missed the second, but Syracuse's Jyare Davis came up with the rebound and drew a foul with 0.7 left. He hit both free throws.

Jyare Davis and Eddie Lampkin Jr. scored 14 points for Syracuse, while Daquan Davis and Jerry Deng chipped in 10 for Florida State.

--Field Level Media