Florida State Seminoles at Wake Forest Demon Deacons

No. 14 Florida State surges past Wake Forest 65-57

"They kept us out of sorts," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We couldn't find our rhythm. I just felt Wake Forest did a very good job defensively of not letting us do what we need to do."

The Seminoles (25-6, 13-5 ACC) never led until grabbing the lead at 47-45 on Trent Forrest's basket with 7:28 left. Phil Cofer followed with an easy basket, then M.J. Walker supplied the knockout with a 3-pointer.

The Deacons (11-19, 4-14 ACC) frequently switched defenses, making it hard for the Seminoles to get the ball inside to 7-foot-4 Christ Koumadje and 6-10 Mfiondu Kabengele.

The Deacons, who shot just 26 percent, went scoreless for nearly six minutes as the Seminoles erased a 45-40 deficit with their 18-0 run.

Wake Forest was 16 of 16 from the foul line en route to a 31-24 halftime lead as both teams struggled from the field. But the Deacons made only 6 of 13 from the line in the second half.

"We came out low energy, but we didn't take them lightly," Koumadje said. "Their defense was kind of tricky. But at the end of the day, we did what we had to do."

"I thought we executed a lot better (in the second half)," Hamilton said. "We got some tremendous help from our non-starters in the first half."

BIG PICTURE

Florida State: The Seminoles capped their first 25-game regular season and maintained their momentum heading into the ACC Tournament.

STAT PACK

Florida State rallied to finish 12-5 in the ACC after a 1-4 start that included losses at Pitt and Boston College, which finished back in the standings. But the Seminoles played only single games (all losses) against Virginia, North Carolina and Duke.

SENIOR NIGHT

Wake Forest senior Anthony Bilas, a seldom-used reserve was in the starting lineup for the first time in his last home game. Bilas' father, Jay, a college basketball analyst for ESPN, was in attendance before going to Chapel Hill for the broadcast of the Duke-North Carolina game. Bilas re-entered the game in the final seconds and made an open 3-pointer for the game's final points.

UP NEXT

Florida State: Plays Virginia Tech or the Wake Forest/Miami winner in the third round of the ACC tournament in Charlotte on March 14.

Wake Forest: Plays Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament on March 12.

How can I watch Florida State vs. Wake Forest?

• TV Channel: Florida State at Wake Forest 2021 College Basketball, week 18, is broadcasted on ACC Extra.
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