FSU Rolls Charleston Southern in Hoops Opener, 88-67

A big run to start the second half allowed Florida State to cruise in its opener as the Seminoles downed Charleston Southern at the Donald L. Tucker Center on Saturday afternoon, 88-67.

Florida State trailed 17-12 in the first half after back-to-back triples by Charleston Southern’s Jamar Martin and Cortez Mitchell, but the Seminoles responded with a 20-4 run capped with a layup by sophomore Terance Mann and never trailed again. The FSU lead would balloon to as many as 11 in the first half, but a 9-4 spurt by the Buccaneers (0-1) cut it to 38-32 at the break.

FSU opened the second half on a 14-2 run spurred by Dwayne Bacon, Jonathan Isaac and Xavier Rathan-Mayes to go up 52-34. From there, Charleston Southern never got closer than nine.

Bacon led the Seminoles (1-0) with 23 points and nine rebounds while Rathan-Mayes added 12 points and a game-high seven assists. The freshman Isaac finished with 10 points and three steals in his highly-anticipated debut.

For the game, FSU shot better than 49 percent from the field to Charleston Southern’s 40. The Seminoles also held the edge on the glass with 42 rebounds to the Buccaneers’ 30.

Christian Keeling led the Buccaneers with 16 points while Mitchell and Martin added 14 and 12, respectively.

FSU will remain home to take on Iona on Tuesday. Charleston Southern will play its home opener on Tuesday against Columbia International.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson