FSU Making Noise in Heated ACC Race

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- When Florida State forward Ryan Reid (pictured) has a free moment he likes to sneak a peek at other collegiate basketball teams around the country.

There's top-ranked Texas, which has dropped consecutive games to Kansas State and Connecticut after opening 17-0. There's No. 2 Kentucky, which expects to return to the top of the Associated Press poll Monday for the first time since 2003. And, closer to home, there's No. 7 Duke, which wiped out an ugly memory from last season with a convincing road win over No. 17 Clemson on Saturday.

Reid and FSU, meanwhile, surely turned heads on Sunday with an exciting 68-66 victory over No. 19 Georgia Tech before a Civic Center crowd of 8,661 to further tighten an already crazy Atlantic Coast Conference race.

"There's just so much talent out there, man," Reid smiled.

"There are other teams that you might not think are that good, but they go out there and beat big-time teams and ranked teams. Every night there seems to be teams beating teams. It was like, 'Man, I didn't think they'd win tonight.' It can be any team, any night.

"That's why we have to keep giving good effort."

The Seminoles (15-4 overall, 3-2 ACC) gave good effort against the Yellow Jackets (14-5, 3-3), sweeping the regular-season series and posting their fifth consecutive victory over the visitors. FSU defeated Tech 66-59 in an overtime thriller Dec. 20 at Atlanta in the ACC opener for both teams.

FSU 7-foot-1 center Solomon Alabi, who patiently shoots 100 free throws each day in practice, calmly made two free throws with 22 seconds remaining to lift the Seminoles into the lead for good at 67-66.

After Alabi's free throws, Brian Oliver missed a 3-point try and Gani Lawal and Iman Shumpert both missed difficult put-back opportunities in traffic. Jordan DeMercy added a free throw with three seconds left for the final margin, and then picked off Tech's long full-court pass.

Chris Singleton's career-high 23 points led FSU. Deividas Dulkys added 11.

Alabi, who has made 83-percent of his free throws this season (68 of 82), needed a fortunate roll on his first free throw -- it caromed high off the rim before dropping through the net -- but that's the way the ball has, well, bounced in the ACC this year.

Virginia suffered its first league defeat at Wake Forest on Saturday, giving every ACC team at least one loss. Six of the 12 teams have at least three defeats, and that includes North Carolina. The Tar Heels (12-7, 1-3) are 11th in the standings, sandwiched between Boston College on top and Miami on the bottom.

After winning two of its last three games at home, FSU embarks on a two-game road swing at Duke Wednesday and Boston College Saturday.

"I don't think any loss or win in the ACC is an upset," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. "It's going to be interesting to see how things pan out."

FSU, for the most part, was a one-man show last season.

Senior guard Toney Douglas was a complete scorer, a player who knocked down a floater in the lane or hurt opponents with an outside jumper. He was the Seminoles' go-to player in any circumstance, and his skills landed him in the NBA as a first-round selection.

FSU is a different team this season.

"We are a team that has to win by committee -- that's who we are," Hamilton said.

The Seminoles are tall, too.

Their starting front-line features Alabi (7-foot-1), Reid (6-foot-8) and Singleton (6-9). The trio combined for 45 points and 16 rebounds and helped FSU outscore Tech 36-20 inside the paint. Reserve Xavier Gibson (6-foot-11) played 14 minutes and added four rebounds and four points.

FSU's height advantage has helped it lead the nation in field-goal percentage defense (.351) and rank seventh in blocked shots (7.3 per game). The Seminoles also are among the country's top-45 in both scoring defense (59.8 ppg) and steals (8.6 per game).

Singleton (right), a center in high school, continues to develop as an inside-outside threat.

He is the ACC leader in steals and ranks fourth in blocks and is looking to become only the fifth player in ACC history to finish in the top five in both categories, joining Wake Forest's Josh Howard, Duke's Shane Battier and Christian Laettner.

Singleton, who had two steals against the Yellow Jackets, has 79 blocked shots and 96 steals in only 54 career games.

Limited to two points on 1-of-9 shooting in the Seminoles' last game against Virginia Tech, Singleton is determined to be more aggressive -- yet in a controlled manner.

"I think I am just trying to make a good play instead of a spectacular play," Singleton said.

"I've been talking about it, becoming more aggressive, but today I think I showed it. I think it was a good step for me. I am just listening to the coaches and letting it flow."

It was a game of runs by both schools in the opening half with the lead changing eight times and the score tied another five occasions. Overall, the game was tied 10 times and featured 20 lead changes. Tech had the largest advantage at seven points (23-16 in the first half).

Both teams shot poorly from the free throw stripe. FSU was 16 of 27 with Singleton only 4 of 10, while Tech, one of the league's youngest teams with two freshmen and two sophomores starting, was 11 of 22.

"It was one of those games that could have gone either way," Hamilton said.

"I think we just made one more good play or one more free throw, got one more rebound down the stretch that gave us the chance to win the game. That seems to be the way it goes in the ACC -- every possession is so important you can't afford to take a possession off."

The same probably can be said for other teams across the country, too. Just ask Reid.