Dec. 18, 2010

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LOS ANGELES - It was a game of role reversals as Florida State traveled to Los Angeles to face LMU for the first time in program history. The Seminoles pulled away down the stretch and earned a 74-63 victory in front of 3,193 at Gersten Pavilion on Saturday night.

Chris Singleton led the Seminoles (9-2) with 15 points while Bernard James had 11 points and 9 rebounds, and Deividas Dulkys added11 points and seven rebounds. Drew Viney led all scorers with 16 points and nine rebounds for the Lions (6-6). Larry Davis added 13.

"They are really NBA big, and very athletic," said Head Coach Max Good of Florida State. "I have been good friends with Coach (Leonard) Hamilton for a long time and his teams don't get near enough credit for how good they are fundamentally on defense. They have really shut down teams and we actually came in and did a good job in shooting the ball. But their second chance points killed us down the stretch."

In a role reversal, Florida State entered the game the best in the country in field goal percentage defense, allowing just 32.5 percent per game. It would rank No. 1 out of 336 NCAA Division I programs. The Lions, however, would finish the game shooting 47.2 percent (25-for-53), the highest allowed by FSU on the season.

On the flip side, LMU entered the game 11th in the nation in rebound margin at plus-10 and had not been outrebounded all season. FSU would out rebound the Lions FSU 37-28 and would finish with a 20-8 edge in second chance points.

"In the final four or five minutes they were able to get a couple offensive rebounds and then turn them into points," said Good. "That was a real back-breaker for us. With that said, I thought this was one of the better games we have played this season. I am really proud of how we played against a very, very good ACC team."

The Seminoles led by five at halftime, 32-27, and would get it to seven with the first bucket of the second half. The Lions would slowly cut the lead down, trimming it to a two-point lead on two occasions. LMU would finally get the lead to just one, 51-50, on a lay-up by Ayodeji Egbeyemi with 8:36 to play.

However, Florida State would answer. They would post a 15-6 run over the next five minutes, and would finally get a double-digit cushion on the Lions, 66-56, on Dulkys' third three-pointer of the game with 3:49 to play.

The Lions would have one last run in them, cutting the lead to five on three free throws by Teel and a lay-in by Viney. Derwin Kitchen would score four straight points to end the run and put the game away.

The Lions end a four-game homestand and will head out on the road for two games prior to the start of West Coast Conference action. The Lions will head to South Dakota on Dec. 22 to face the Coyotes for the second time in 11 days. The game is set to tip-off at 5 p.m. (PST), and can be heard on KXLU 88.9 FM.