CORAL GABLES, Fla. _ An undermanned Miami team had No. 9 Florida State against the ropes, but the Hurricanes surrendered a nine-point lead with a little more than five minutes remaining in regulation and ultimately had their upset bid terminated in overtime.
FSU rallied for an 83-79 win at Watsco Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Seminoles (16-2, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) notched their ninth consecutive victory as the Hurricanes (10-7, 2-5) just missed getting their first win over a top-10 opponent in nearly two years.
Chris Lykes led the Hurricanes with 24 points, shooting 6 of 10 on 3-pointers, but had six of their 24 turnovers. DJ Vasiljevic scored 19 on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc, and Kameron McGusty added 15. Sam Waardenburg and Rodney Miller combined for 19 rebounds as Miami outrebounded the bigger, longer Seminoles, 41-36.
"We did everything it took to win except win," UM coach Jim Larranaga said. "I thought we had good balance scoring. We've been pretty darn good at the end of close games finishing. (Saturday), we weren't able to close."
Devin Vassell led FSU with 23 points and 11 rebounds. M.J. Walker scored 19 _ all in the second half _ and had the tying three late in regulation.
Malik Osborne converted on a three-point play from in close with 2:25 left in overtime to give the Seminoles a 74-71 lead in overtime. After Trent Forrest extended the FSU advantage to five with a pair of free throws, Lykes brought Miami back to being down two, at 76-74, with a 3-pointer with 1:15 left in the extra period.
Vassell responded with a 3 of his own with 45 seconds left, but Lykes came back with another off-balance 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 79-77 with 23 seconds remaining.
Vassell hit the pair of free throws with six seconds left that secured the victory for FSU.
Forrest missed at the buzzer in regulation to send the game to overtime after Miami's Harlond Beverly was whistled for an offensive foul with 27 seconds left on what was originally called a blocking foul on Florida State but overturned upon review.
Walker hit a corner 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to tie FSU with Miami at 69, the score at the end of regulation. UM turned the ball over four times in the final three minutes of regulation, and Lykes missed the front end of a one-and-one as the Hurricanes came up empty on several possessions down the final stretch.
"We had some turnovers that led to easy baskets, so we didn't get a chance to defend them," Larranaga said. "Those turnovers allowed them to cut the lead pretty quickly."
Anthony Polite got the Seminoles within one, at 67-66, with a dunk off a steal from Vassell, but Lykes answered with a jumper with 1:50 to play.
Walker pulled FSU within four, 65-61, when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all his free throws with 3:34 left. After McGusty hit both shots of a one-and-one, Walker hit a corner 3-pointer to make it, 67-64, with 3:10 remaining.
A Vasiljevic 3-pointer with 6:17 remaining gave the Hurricanes a seven-point lead, 63-56, with 6:17 remaining. Vasiljevic then got out on a fast break for a layup off a steal to put them up by their largest advantage of nine with 5:20 left.
With the teams mostly exchanging baskets for much of the early part of the first half, Miami built a six-point advantage, first when Vasiljevic was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws and then again when Lykes made a corner 3 with 8:11 to go.
At halftime, FSU led, 31-30, taking a lead into the locker room on Forrest's jumper with one second left in the period.
