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 No. 19 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.
