Matthew Cleveland came off the bench to score a game-high 13 points Sunday night as Florida State used a balanced attack to topple Loyola Marymount 73-45 in the first round of the Jacksonville (Fla.) Classic’s Duval Bracket.
Malik Osborne and Tanor Ngom added 10 points apiece and Caleb Mills had nine for the Seminoles (3-1), who move on to face the winner of Sunday’s late game between Missouri and SMU in the Duval finals on Monday.
Joe Quintana had a team-high 12 points for the Lions (2-2), who will take on the Missouri-SMU loser in a consolation game Monday.
Quintana and Eli Scott bombed in 3-pointers in the first 96 seconds of the game, sandwiching a Cameron Shelton dunk, as Loyola Marymount stunned Florida State with an early 8-2 burst.
But the Seminoles took their first lead at 9-8 just two minutes later and grabbed control of the game shortly thereafter with a 10-0 burst that put them up 23-14. Wyatt Wilkes had a 3-pointer in the run.
In winning for the second time since falling at Florida last Sunday, Florida State led by 15 at halftime, then 49-22 at the end of a 17-3 flurry early in the second period that featured five 3-pointers, including a pair by Osborne.
Cleveland hit six of his eight shots and Ngom five of his six for Florida State, which shot 50.9 percent from the field overall and 42.1 percent on 3-pointers. RayQuan Evans joined Osborne with two 3-pointers for the Seminoles, with the duo accounting for half the team’s total of eight.
Anthony Polite grabbed a game-high seven rebounds to complement six points and four assists for Florida State.
Quintana did all of his scoring from beyond the 3-point arc, going 4-for-7. His teammates combined for just 2-for-15 on their 3-point attempts, however.
Keli Leaupepe chipped in with seven points and a team-high six rebounds for the Lions.
–Field Level Media
