Malik Osborne tallied 18 points, his career high in a Florida State uniform, leading the No. 20 Seminoles to a 105-70 rout of Penn on Wednesday night in both teams’ opener at Tallahassee, Fla.
In his third season with the Seminoles after transferring from Rice, Osborne also had a career-high-tying 13 rebounds.
As a member of the Owls, the Matteson, Ill., native scored a career-high 22 points against Marshall on Feb. 15, 2018.
Penn State’s Anthony Polite posted 17 points and six rebounds while RayQuan Evans had 14 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.
University of Houston transfer Caleb Mills and Kentucky transfer Cam’Ron Fletcher combined for 23 points, nine rebounds and seven steals in their Florida State debuts.
The Seminoles registered 15 steals and outrebounded Penn 49-29.
Jordan Dingle paced the Quakers with 23 points. Jonah Charles and Clark Slajchert added 12.
Fifth-year senior Jelani Williams, who suffered through three ACL tears in three seasons, scored two points in 19 minutes in his collegiate debut.
With the Quakers not playing at all last year after the Ivy League opted out of the season in November due to COVID-19 concerns, the visitors arrived as an anxious opponent after a 613-day layoff between games.
For more than eight minutes, Penn hung with the Seminoles and led 14-13 after Dingle’s trey.
The Seminoles, led by Osborne’s 17 points and eight boards before halftime, pulled out to a 51-39 lead heading into the break.
Florida State forced 16 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, turning them into 23 points. The Seminoles also had 10 offensive rebounds and 10 steals in the half.
Charles scored nine first-half points and Dingle tallied eight for the Quakers, who were 5-for-13 from long range. For the game, Penn shot 9 of 27 from long distance while Florida State was 7 of 22.
The Seminoles missed just three of their first 11 shots after halftime and built a 71-44 lead five minutes into the second half before coasting to the victory.
–Field Level Media
