Darin Green Jr. scored a game-high 20 points and keyed a pair of lengthy first-half runs Tuesday night for visiting Florida State, which scored the first 13 points before holding off Notre Dame to earn an 84-71 win in an ACC game in South Bend, Ind.
Matthew Cleveland finished with 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in his eighth straight double-double for Florida State (6-13, 4-4 ACC). Jalen Warley had 17 points while Caleb Mills finished with 11 points and Cameron Corhen added 10 points.
Marcus Hammond scored 19 points off the bench for Notre Dame (9-10, 1-7), which whittled a 24-point second-half deficit to six points with 1:15 left. Trey Wertz had 15 points while JJ Starling (12 points) and Dane Goodwin (11 points) also got into double figures.
Green had the final five points in Florida State’s game-opening run. Notre Dame missed its first seven shots from the field and scored its first points on a pair of free throws by Nate Laszewski with 15:55 left before Hammond drained a jumper to cut the deficit to 15-4.
Green then sparked a 17-4 run to give Florida State a 32-8 lead with 11:05 left. The guard had 10 points in the outburst, including a four-point play.
Notre Dame responded by scoring the next nine points to start a 21-3 run that ended with Starling hitting a layup to pull the Fighting Irish within 35-29 with 2:48 left.
Florida State led 39-29 at the half and appeared to be in complete control when it extended its lead to 66-42 with 9:03 remaining. But Wertz then scored six straight points for Notre Dame to key a 16-1 run, which ended with Starling splitting a pair of free throws to pull the hosts within 67-58 with 3:23 left.
Florida State, which was 0-for-5 with three turnovers during the run, ended its drought when Warley hit a hook shot just before the shot-clock buzzer. Warley hit two of his four free throw attempts surrounding an empty trip by Notre Dame before Hammond and Goodwin sank 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cut the deficit to 73-67.
The Seminoles held on by hitting 11 of their last 12 free throws, including 10 straight beginning with a pair converted by Mills in between the Fighting Irish 3-pointers.
–Field Level Media
