Florida State will close the non-conference schedule on an 8-game winning streak.
In a Monday matinee at the Donald L. Tucker Center, the Seminoles were locked in a dogfight early, but slowly pulled away from Samford, 76-68.
Terance Mann scored a career-high 19 points to lead the FSU victory, but things were very close for a half. The Bulldogs (7-4) led 27-26 with under a minute to play in the first half before a jumper from Xavier Rathan-Mayes followed by a 3-pointer as the first half sounded gave the Seminoles a 31-27 lead at the break.
Rathan-Mayes finished with 15 points on an efficient 6-for-10 shooting which includes three triples and a team-high five assists. Dwayne Bacon, the leading scorer coming in for FSU, finished with 14 points and a team-high six boards.
FSU (12-1) scored the first six points to start the second half to extend the lead to double-digits and from there, the game never got closer than five. The FSU lead ballooned to as many as 17, but an 11-1 Samford run cut the deficit to seven with under four minutes to play. From there, a pair of free throws by Mann and a jumper from Bacon allowed the Seminoles to cruise the rest of the way.
Christen Cunningham finished with 16 points to lead Samford while leading scorer Dememtrius Dyson added 14 and Alex Thompson chipped in with 13. Josh Sharkey finished with 10 points for Samford and a game-high three steals.
The Bulldogs started the game hot from deep, but cooled down considerably in the second half, finishing 9-for-25. FSU was just 6-for-22 from deep. Samford shot a little better than FSU from the field (43 percent to 42), but the Seminoles held a noticeable edge on the glass, 41-30.
FSU will begin ACC play on Dec. 28 against Wake Forest. Samford will head home to take on another team from Tallahassee as it hosts Florida A&M on Thursday.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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