CLEMSON, S.C. _ Clemson trailed Florida State, 66-53, with 6:18 remaining Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum, and the Tigers were coming out of a timeout looking to cut into FSU's lead with a solid offensive possession.
Instead, the Tigers could not even get the ball in bounds and were whistled for a five-second violation, one of Clemson's 11 turnovers in the eventual loss.
It was that kind of offensive night for the Tigers as Clemson seemed out of sync from start to finish in a 77-64 loss, Clemson's third consecutive defeat.
Mfiondu Kabengele led Florida State (21-5, 9-4 ACC) with 19 points.
Marcquise Reed scored 20 points for the Tigers, who are now 15-11 (5-8 ACC) with five games remaining in the regular season. Clemson hosts Boston College Saturday at noon.
The Tigers struggled offensively for much of the night as Clemson made only 30 percent of its field goals in the first half and trailed 38-23 at the break.
Clemson's deficit grew to as large as 18 points early in the second half on a dunk by Christ Koumadje (10 points) before the Tigers started to rally.
Clemson pulled to within 59-52 with 8:09 left thanks to a 9-0 run but it was too little, too late. FSU quickly pushed its lead back to double digits and never looked back.
