CHARLOTTE — Michael Joiner, relegated to a reserve role, could have given up much earlier.
Delvon Arrington, forced to play almost the entire game, could have let his level of intensity slip a little bit.
The Florida State team as a whole, nearing the finish of a tumultuous year in which its coach could get fired, could have packed its bags soon after Clemson’s Tomas Nagys tied the contest with 0.6 seconds left in regulation.
But the Seminoles just didn’t want to end their season quite so soon.
Florida State, which watched Clemson tie the game in the closing seconds to force overtime, persevered and came through with a 91-84 victory on Thursday in the play-in game of the ACC Tournament at the Charlotte Coliseum.
The Seminoles opened the extra period with a 12-2 run to take control, and they held on down the stretch to advance to today’s quarterfinal against top-seeded Maryland.
“It was a new game, 0-0,” said FSU’s Monte Cummings, who scored 17 points.
“We’ve been practicing late game situations, overtime, and it worked out perfectly on paper, perfectly on the floor. We executed and it went our way.”
Clemson (13-17) held a 60-52 lead with eight minutes remaining, but the Seminoles (12-16) fought back and led 67-64 with a half minute left.
Tony Stockman hit a free throw to cut the deficit to two with 16.6 seconds left, then Nagys followed up a Jamar McKnight miss just before the buzzer to force overtime.
The Seminoles weren’t shaken, and they scored on six of their first eight possessions of overtime to take 79-69 advantage.
Joiner, who didn’t start and played three scoreless minutes in the first half, took the blame for Nagys’ follow shot.
Joiner scored 15 points after intermission, including six in the extra period.
“It really played on my mind mentally,”Joiner said of not starting. “I had to be strong mentally. I went out and scored and felt like I was in a zone.”
Joiner, who hit a crucial 3-pointer to give FSU a 71-67 edge, played almost the entire overtime with the back of his jersey filled with blue and yellow paint.
Joiner, who probably sweats more than any player in the ACC, had fallen to the floor early in overtime and brought up some of the blue paint from the lane.
“Jamar McKnight said my back looked like Skittles,” Joiner said.“I asked the referee what color my jersey was, and he said blue, so I knew it was true.”
Cummings scored six of his points after regulation, while Arrington finished with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists in 44 minutes.
Arrington hit four freebies in overtime for FSU, which connected on 17 of its 26 tries from the line in the additional five minutes.
“We needed every point, every rebound, every basket and every free throw,” FSU coach Steve Robinson said of Arrington’s performance.
Guard Edward Scott led the Tigers with 23 points and seven assists, and Nagys added 18 points and nine boards.
Sharrod Ford came off the bench and contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes.
The Tigers, who trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, got their second-half lead by improving their rebounding.
“We gained control on the glass, dominated,” Clemson coach Larry Shyatt said.“I think we grabbed 12 of the 14 available rebounds to lead by nine.”
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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