Florida State concluded its trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands on the right foot Monday with a 90-81 victory over Ohio in a Paradise Jam consolation game.
The freshman duo of Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley continued to pace the Seminoles (4-1) as they combined for 46 points on 17-for-25 shooting. Bacon led all scorers with 25 points while adding a team-high 7 rebounds. Beasley scored 21 points during his 8-for-10 afternoon. As a team, FSU shot better than 54 percent from the field.
The Seminoles opened the game on a 15-2 run, but Ohio (3-2) settled in at the midway point in the first half and trailed just 45-38 at the break. The lone Bobcat lead of the day came with under 10 minutes to play on a 3-pointer by Jordan Dartis, who scored a team-high 24 points off the Ohio bench, to cap a 10-1 run and give the Bobcats a 62-59 edge.
Beasley answered with a tying 3-pointer that ignited a 14-4 FSU run and allowed the Seminoles to take control of the contest. A 3-point play by Dartis with under four minutes to play cut the FSU lead to four, but the Seminoles responded with a 6-0 on four Beasley free throws sandwiched around a Bacon dunk, which gave Florida State an 81-71 lead. From there, the Bobcats would never get closer than eight.
In addition to monster games by FSU’s talented tandem of freshmen, Boris Bojanovsky and Xavier Rathan-Mayes each scored season-highs with 14 points. Rathan-Mayes led the Seminoles with 6 assists.
Complimenting Dartis for the Bobcats was a pair of forwards. Kenny Kaminski finished with 18 points while Antonio Campbell added 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in the loss.
Florida State will have more than a week off before visiting Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on December 2nd. Ohio will host Marshall on December 1st.
Featured image courtesy of Gazette Union
