Solomon Alabi wasn't a bit worried as he stepped to the free throw line, his team trailing by a point with 22 seconds left.
Alabi, who may be the best 7-foot-1 free throw shooter around, made both of them - even though the first bounced high off the rim before dropping through the net. The second gave the Seminoles the lead over 19th-ranked Georgia Tech, which failed to score again.
``There's no one we'd rather have up there,'' coach Leonard Hamilton said after a 68-66 win, the Seminoles' fifth straight over the Yellow Jackets. ``He's got ice water in his veins.''
Alabi, a redshirt sophomore who has made 83 percent (68 of 82) of his free throws this season, said he was confident largely because of a dedicated practice routine.
``I've done this so many times in practice,'' said Alabi, who often will shoot 100 free throws in a session and made 50 of 54 in one particular hot stretch. ``I tune everything else out.''
Alabi finished with 14 points and was perfect in six trips to the foul line for Florida State, (15-4, 3-2 ACC), which otherwise was just 10 of 21 at the stripe.
Georgia Tech (14-5, 3-3 ACC) got its last lead on Iman Shumpert's jump shot with 1:27 left.
After Alabi's free throws, Brian Oliver missed a 3-point try and Gani Lawal and Shumpert both missed opportunities to tie the game for Georgia Tech. Jordan DeMercy added a free throw in the closing seconds for the final margin.
``We were really impatient offensively,'' said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, who has one of the youngest teams in the country with two freshmen and two sophomores starting.
Chris Singleton's career-high 23 points led Florida State. Deividas Dulkys added 11.
``I was just trying to get the offense going,'' said Singleton, who was rebounding from his worst game (two points) of the season in last week's 63-58 win over Virginia Tech. ``The coaches keep telling me to look for my shot.''
Lawal, Georgia Tech's leading scorer, was held to a single field goal by the Seminoles for the second time this season.
``It's like a barroom brawl inside,'' Hamilton said. ``Very aggressive.''
Hewitt noted Alabi's presence inside as a factor.
``I'm not sure anybody in the country has a guy like him,'' he said.
Oliver, another Tech freshman, came off the bench and hit six 3-pointers and scored a career-best 20 points while Derrick Favors added 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Aside from Alabi, both teams shot poorly from the free-throw stripe. Florida State was 16 of 27 with Singleton only 4 of 10, while Georgia Tech was 11 of 22.
Alabi and Singleton each had seven rebounds for the Seminoles, who had a 39-37 edge.
Besides 20 lead changes, there were 10 ties in the game, including 34-34 at halftime.
``I don't think any loss or win in the ACC is an upset,'' Hamilton said. ``It's going to be interesting to see how things pan out.''
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.
A trio of 3-point baskets by Oliver in a span of 71 seconds sparked a 14-2 Georgia Tech run, after the Seminoles had opened the game on their own 10-2 spurt.
Georgia Tech's biggest lead in the first half came at 23-16 on a Shumpert layup.
Florida State defeated the Yellow Jackets 66-59 in an overtime thriller Dec. 20 at Atlanta in the ACC opener for both teams.
