Montay Brandon and Kiel Turpin each had career-high scoring nights for Florida State on Wednesday as the Seminoles easily downed North Florida, 93-77 at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
Brandon led all scorers with 24 points which topped his previous career-high of 23 set earlier this month against UCF. Brandon shot 8-for-11 from the field and dished out 8 assists to go along with 2 steals. Turpin was 8-for-9 from the field, finishing with a personal best of 19 points.
North Florida hung tough for much of the first half Wednesday, but a 17-4 run by FSU to close the half gave Florida State a 43-29 advantage at the break. The Ospreys closed the gap to eight with a 6-0 run to start the second half, but Florida State responded with eight straight points. The Seminole lead remained in double digits for the remainder of the game and Florida State led by as many as 24 before cruising to victory.
Freshman Phil Cofer equaled a career-high with 14 points for the Seminoles to go with a game-high 8 rebounds. Xavier Rathan-Mayes just missed a double-double, adding 11 points and a career-high 9 assists in the victory.
Dallas Moore paced North Florida (6-5) with 23 points on 9-for-17 shooting. Forward Chris Davenport added 20 points for the Ospreys while leading the team with 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
With the win, Florida State improved to 5-5. It gets set to try to earn its first win away from Tallahassee on Saturday as FSU takes on South Florida in the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Florida.
North Florida will visit Florida A&M on Friday.
