TALLAHASSEE ? Eight seconds illuminated?the game clock portion of?the scoreboards inside?the Donald L. Tucker Center.
The Florida State Seminoles were in the middle of a huddle. It was the last one they would occupy Wednesday night as they wrapped up a comeback bid against visiting Maryland.
Trailing by a point, they listened close as coach Leonard Hamilton described the offensive play he wanted them to run. Get forward Okaro White under the basket, screen center Kiel Turpin to break him free. Send guard Ian Miller with the ball to one side of the court, have Michael Snaer trail him.
"We were calm, very calm." White said, reflecting on the emotion inside the loose huddle while a tense half-full Donald L. Tucker Center crowd roared support. "That was the calmest we've been."
The Seminoles knew what they scripted, but they had a sneaking, confident feeling that the ball would wind up in the hands of a playmaker who would snap the deficit and send them back to their dorms and apartments late-game winners for the second time in a week.
"Not again."
With 1.1 seconds left on the game clock, Snaer's hands were the ones who touched the ball last. Letting fly a 3-pointer from the left elbow, he tossed up a carbon copy of the shot that he delivered from the opposite wing just eight days before?when he drained?a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that felled Clemson.
This time, as the ball traveled from Snaer's hand, one Maryland forward could be heard saying under his breath: "not again."
Yes, again. For the second time in a week, Snaer delivered a game-winning 3-pointer that capped a second-half comeback that ended in a 73-71 FSU win. Although Maryland still had time to pass the ball the length of the floor and take a failed, desperate, final 3, Snaer's shot was the only one that mattered.
"I think I'm done surprising people," Snaer said, laughing.
Not only was it his second game-winning shot in about a week, it was Snaer's fourth to beat an ACC opponent in a year. He also hit two buzzer-beaters against Duke and Virginia Tech last season.
Just before the shot, the scripted play fell apart when Miller stumbled as he tried to penetrate in the lane. Losing the handle on the ball, Miller recovered just in time to push ahead a pass to Snaer, who was sitting wide open beyond the 3-point arc.
The Terrapins, distracted by Miller's fumbling, converged upon him. They left Snaer for a split-second too long.
"I was hoping he would take too much time and miss it," Maryland coach Mark?Turgeon said. "Sometimes you can be too open."
Not Snaer. Fighting through a first-half knee injury that sidelined him part of the game, the senior guard finished the game with the game-winner and a game-high 19 points. It was the third 3 he made on the night. All came after the injury.
"He's put in situations where he has to be a leader, when in reality his whole career, he's been a guy who's been a finisher," Hamilton said. "A guy who's caught the ball and finished plays for us. With a team that's not really in sync as it should be, he's had to become part facilitator and go-to guy and a leader on the floor.
"That's a little overwhelming. And it's unfair. Michael's a competitor, and he's emotional, and he wants to be so successful."
With respect to FSU's synchronization, the Seminoles (12-8, 4-3 ACC) have stumbled throughout the season. They've won games they weren't favored in, and lost those they were. Recently, it seems that wins aren't necessarily followed up with more wins. Losses instead alternate with the victories.
Entering Wednesday's game, the Seminoles had lost three of their previous four. Last week's win over Clemson was short-lived, as FSU went to Miami on Sunday and lost by 24.
On Saturday, the Seminoles will have a chance to build some momentum when they host No. 5 Duke (18-2, 5-2).
Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-fsu-maryland-0131-20130130,0,7854931.story?track=rss
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