CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — Florida State coach Steve Robinson knew the question was coming, and he had his answer ready when it came:
"I can't respond to that," Robinson said when asked about No. 10 Virginia's 44-11 advantage in free throws Sunday. "It's going to be hard to win a basketball game when the other team's getting that many."
Virginia forward Chris Williams, right, goes over Florida State's Nigel Dixon, center, and Antwuan Dixon for a basket in Sunday's game. Williams scored 24 points in Virginia's 91-74 victory.
The Cavaliers outscored Florida State 37-8 from the foul line, including 24-5 in the second half, and beat the Seminoles 91-74.
Virginia coach Pete Gillen seemed shocked by the disparity, but said the Seminoles' defense in the passing lanes helped make it happen.
"It was a physical game, that's all I know," Gillen said. "We were attacking the basket. We did get a lot of free throws, but trust me, every one was a foul. We fouled them too, but they wouldn't let us pass.
"They played in the lanes and they were very physical."
The Cavaliers also took advantage, shooting 84 percent from the line.
Chris Williams scored 24 points, including the first three in a 19-6 run to begin the second half, and Roger Mason Jr. and freshman Elton Brown added 16 each as the Cavaliers rebounded from a plodding 13 minutes.
Travis Watson added 14 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, Jermaine Harper had nine points and Keith Jenifer had five points and six assists, giving the Cavaliers possibly their most complete performance this season.
"We needed that today," said Mason, who hit three three-pointers in the last 77 seconds of the first half to cap the big run. "When you have a team where a lot of guys can score, it makes it tough to stop us."
The Cavaliers (12-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), scored just 13 points in the first 13:22 and trailed 20-13, then outscored Florida State 32-19 in the last 6:38 of the first half to lead 45-39 at halftime.
The fast start after the break included scoring from five players, and the Seminoles never got closer than 10 points again.
"The freshmen, they really picked it up today," said Gillen, who at one point played four freshmen at a time. "Defensively they really pressured the ball and got our defense started. They're really coming on."
The Seminoles (9-7, 2-3) never recovered from the barrage. The second half was more of the same, with Mason adding a three-pointer and five points, J.C. Mathis hitting a three and Travis Watson and Jermaine Harper scoring four points each as the Cavaliers built a 64-45 lead.
From there, the Cavaliers protected their lead at the line.
Monte Cummings scored 19 points to lead the Seminoles, but had only five before Virginia's big second-half run.
No. 3 Maryland 99, Clemson 90
College Park, Md. Juan Dixon scored 23 points and Lonny Baxter had 21.
Dixon, held to 10 points in the Terrapins' 99-78 loss to Duke on Thursday, hit four three-pointers to become Maryland's career leader with 189. He surpassed the mark held by Johnny Rhodes (186).
Baxter did most of his damage close the basket. He shot just 5-for-12 on free throws.
Chris Wilcox notched his third career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for Maryland (14-3, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Terrapins committed a season-low six turnovers in beating the Tigers for the eighth straight time.
Tony Stockman made six three-pointers and scored 22 points for Clemson (11-8, 2-4). Jamar McKnight added 20 points and Edward Scott had 19 for the Tigers, who tied a school record with 15 three-pointers.
Clemson outrebounded Maryland 49-37 and trailed only 86-85 with 2:57 remaining. Drew Nicholas scored seven of his 13 points in a one-minute span to increase Maryland's lead to 93-86 and the Terps held on from there.
Byron Mouton added 14 points for Maryland and Steve Blake had 13 assists. Ray Henderson scored 11 points and equaled a career-high with 13 rebounds for Clemson.
No. 22 Boston College 77, Virginia Tech 68
Boston Boston College picked up a win it was supposed to get. The next one won't be so easy.
"We needed a win bad, and we got it," Boston College guard Ryan Sidney said Sunday after his 16 points and 12 rebounds led the Eagles past Virginia Tech, snapping a three-game home losing streak.
Kenny Walls had 17 points and eight rebounds for Boston College (14-4, 3-3 Big East) in its final tuneup before meeting No. 1 Duke. After that, the Eagles travel to No. 24 Miami and Providence before a rematch with Virginia Tech.
"We're still not where we need to be, but we just needed to get a win to get our confidence back up," BC coach Al Skinner said. "We've got one more game left here (before the road trip). Hopefully, we'll play well."
Troy Bell struggled again with 17 points on 5-for-15 shooting for the Eagles, who lost three consecutive games at the Conte Forum after winning the previous 25. Boston College has been in the The Associated Press Top 25 for 20 consecutive polls making it as high as 10th this season but the Eagles could drop out of the rankings that are released today.
"Coming in, we knew (Bell) was in a slump. He hadn't been shooting the ball well," Hokies guard Brian Chase said. "We wanted to contain him, and I think we did that."
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.