Malique Ewin received 26 points and took eight returns in his return from injury to leading host Florida State to a victory 76-69 over SMU on Saturday in Tallahassee, FLA.
Ewin returned to the Lineup for Seminoles after missing the two previous games with an ankle injury and helped Florida State (17-14, 8-12 Atlantic Coast Conference) snap a four-game losing line on the way into the ACC tournament.
Seminole handled Mustangs (22-9, 13-7 ACC) another potentially harmful hit to their NCAA tournament hopes and denied them a chance to secure a double village in the conference tournament.
Florida State – who must win the ACC tournament and secure the conference’s automatic bid to do the NCAA tournament – celebrated an even more special victory.
The game was their long coach Leonard Hamilton’s last home game. Hamilton retires after the ACC tournament after 23 season coaching in Florida State. With 3.9 seconds left and the result was no longer several Seminole players who were silt out and shared hugs with Hamilton.
A 9-2 wave of Florida State put Seminole forward 47-39 with 15:59 left.
SMU would reduce the deficit to 65-63 with 4:04 left on a jumper by Boopie Miller.
Seminoles responded quickly with an arrangement from Chandler Jackson and a three -pointer from Taylor Bol Bowen to drive the advantage to seven. Florida State Defense did not allow Mustangs to make it a single -layer game the rest of the way.
Florida State was a connection from the free throw line, which made 18 out of 23 attempts, highlighted by Watkins (9-for-10) and Ewin (6-for-7).
Together with Ewin’s fantastic performance, Florida State finished leading goal scorer Jamir Watkins with 20 points and eight returns and Jerry Deng added 11 points.
With 16 points and five assists, Miller LED SMU, who saw four players score in double numbers. Matt Cross had 13 points and six returns, Kario Oquendo had 12 points and Chuck Harris added 11.
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