Florida State continues surge as Stanford stumbles to 4th straight loss
Chauncey Wiggins' career-high 23 points helped Florida State beat Stanford 88-80 on Saturday and finish off a 2-0 week in Tallahassee, Fla., against the California schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Wiggins, a senior forward, notched 16 of his points in the second half for the Seminoles (10-12, 3-6 ACC), with three of his four 3-pointers coming after half.
Conversely, teammate Lajae Jones scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half and made 8 of 9 at the free-throw line for the game. Robert McCray V paired 19 points with seven assists and two steals, Alex Steen chipped in 12 points and Kobe MaGee added 10 for Florida State, which has won three of its last four games since an 0-5 start to conference play.
Florida State shot 54.7% from the floor -- its best shooting percentage since its season opener -- and was 23 of 29 (79.3%) at the free-throw line after making 52.4% of its free throws in Wednesday's 63-61 win over Cal.
After Stanford leading scorer Ebuka Okorie (21.5 points per game) was held to three first-half points, he exploded for 23 over the final 20 minutes, making eight of 15 shots and adding a team-high four assists for the game.
Benny Gealer added 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting, AJ Rohosy scored 11 and Donavin Young chipped in 10.
The Cardinal (14-8, 3-6) fell behind by 19 early in the second half and were never able to cut that deficit to less than eight points, dealing another blow to their NCAA Tournament hopes which continue to trend in the wrong direction with four straight losses.
Stanford jumped out to a 19-14 lead seven minutes in, hitting eight of its first 11 shots. The Seminoles responded with a 19-7 run, opening up a 33-26 lead with 5:53 left in the half.
The Cardinal used a run to cut the deficit to two, but Florida State ended the opening 20 minutes on a 6-0 run to take a 41-33 lead into the half.
Stanford made five of its final 17 first-half shots (29.4%) after the hot start and turned it over eight times, which led to 12 Florida State points.
Jones led all scorers with 13 points and a team-high three rebounds in the first half. Gealer, Rohosy and Cameron Grant led Stanford with six points apiece.
The Seminoles went on a 12-0 run paired with a Stanford scoring drought of over four minutes to open a 63-44 advantage with 11:38 left in the game.