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Mar 17, 1997

Seminoles Pull Away from Michigan State, 68-63

Randell Jackson scored 16 points as Florida State rallied past Michigan State, 68-63, in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

LaMarr Greer and Kirk Luchman added 11 points apiece for the Seminoles (18-11), who will play West Virginia in the quarterfinals at a site yet to be determined. Florida State is in the quarterfinals of the NIT for the first time in school history. The Seminoles lost in the second round in 1984 and 1987.

Ray Weathers scored 15 points and Mateen Cleaves added 14 for Michigan State (17-12), which fell to 6-6 all-time in the NIT. The Spartans defeated George Washington to advance to the second round.

This was the first meeting between the schools.

Weathers gave the Spartans their final lead at 44-42 following a three-pointer with 15:29 to play. But Florida State countered with a 9-1 run as Corey Louis hit a free throw and Jackson added a layup to make it 45-44 in favor of Florida State with 12:30 left.

Louis followed with a jumper and two free throws to push the lead to five points. Weathers made one of two free throws for Michigan State, but Louis knocked down a jumper to cap the run and give the Seminoles a 51-45 advantage with 10:04 left.

Two free throws by Kerry Thompson gave the Seminoles their largest lead at 60-51, but Michigan State reeled off eight straight points to close within 60-59 after Weathers stroked a three-pointer with 1:42 to play. After a 20-second timeout by the Seminoles, Greer drilled a three-pointer with 1:04 left and added a free throw with 48 seconds left to make it 64-59.

Florida State shot 47 percent (22-of-47) from the field and made 6-of-16 three-point shots. Thompson had seven assists and Jackson pulled down 11 rebounds.

Michigan State, which made only 9-of-32 shots in the second half, shot 39 percent (22-of-57) from the floor. Thomas Kelley added 12 points off the bench for the Spartans.

MICHIGAN ST (63)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Weathers        36  4-12   3-5   0-0  1  3   15
Cleaves         31  5-15   4-4   2-4  3  5   14
Smith           36   2-5   1-4   2-8  1  4    5
Granger         13   0-1   0-0   1-3  1  2    0
Klein           20   1-2   0-0   0-4  0  1    2
Kelley          17   4-8   3-3   1-2  0  3   12
Mull             2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Thomas           2   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Garavaglia      21   3-7   1-3   4-7  1  4    7
Polonowski      10   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Peterson        12   3-6   2-2   1-3  1  0    8
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 22-57 14-21 11-32  8 22   63
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.386, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
5-16, .313 (Weathers 4-9, Cleaves 0-3, Kelley
1-4). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: None.
Turnovers: 9 (Cleaves 5, Granger, Kelley,
Polonowski, Weathers). Steals: 7 (Garavaglia 3,
Kelley 2, Peterson, Smith).
FLORIDA ST (68)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
K Thompson      32   2-8   3-4   1-4  7  3    9
Jackson         34  6-10   4-8  1-11  0  2   16
Greer           35   4-9   1-4   1-1  2  0   11
Collins         33   2-6   2-3   0-5  3  4    7
Luchman         29   4-6   3-3   2-5  0  3   11
Hale             7   0-1   2-2   0-1  0  0    2
Deas             6   1-3   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
Brower           7   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  1    3
Louis           17   2-2   3-4   1-3  0  2    7
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 22-47 18-28  6-30 12 16   68
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.468, FT-.643. 3-Point Goals:
6-16, .375 (K Thompson 2-5, Greer 2-3, Collins
1-5, Deas 0-1, Brower 1-2). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 4 (Jackson 3, Greer). Turnovers:
12 (Brower 2, Deas 2, Jackson 2, K Thompson 2,
Luchman 2, Hale, Louis). Steals: 4 (Collins,
Greer, Jackson, K Thompson).
__________________________________
Michigan St        39   24  -   63
Florida St         38   30  -   68
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 6,362. Officials: Ray
Jones, O Poole, Michael Stuart.

1996-97 Schedule/Results

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