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No. 8 FSU basketball squeaks out 80-77 win over Syracuse

Without Devin Vassell for the entire game, and without M.J. Walker for a long stretch, the Florida State men’s basketball team just did what it always does anyway: The Seminoles won at home.

The No. 8 ‘Noles overcame two late four-point deficits, got a huge 4-point play from Walker when he returned, and two big free throws from Trent Forrest to pull out a 80-77 win over Syracuse on Saturday afternoon.

Florida State's bench scored 41 points.

With the win, FSU is now 21-4 overall and 11-3 in the ACC.

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Box Score: No. 8 FSU 80, Syracuse 77

"We talk to the (reserves) all the time about staying ready, staying in the gym, getting your reps in,” Forrest said. “Those guys do a good job. To have (41) points from the bench, I mean, that’s big-time for us.”

When Hamilton was asked after the game about Vassell, he said he wouldn't comment on his situation. Or if he would be available for the home game vs. Pitt on Tuesday night.

If Vassell was injured, he didn't look it in pregame warmups as he had a couple of highlight reel dunks before each half. But he didn't play. And his status for the Pitt game will be known probably right before tip-off. Vassell is the Seminoles’ leading scorer and rebounder.

Walker's status was in doubt for much of Saturday as well. The junior hit three 3's in the first half, but caught an elbow in the mouth from teammate Dominik Olejniczak. It required 12 stitches, according to Hamilton, and he missed more than 25 minutes of game action as the numbing had to take affect before they could stitch up the wound.

"The doctors did a good job," Walker said of his time in the locker room. "I kept asking them, 'Are we winning? Are we winning?' I was hearing the crowd get hyped and then I'd hear it get dull for a minute. So I was trying to see what was going on. But they did a good job of keeping me updated.

"And I was happy to get back out there."

All he did was come back out and hit two massive 3's. One to cut the Syracuse lead to one with 4:19 left and the other with 2:36 while being fouled. That four-point play gave the Seminoles a 70-69 lead.

“I can’t say enough about M.J.,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “To get a cut like he got, and 12 stitches is an awful lot of stitches to have to recover from. You have to get an awful lot of shots.

“For him to come back out and represent his team in that fashion with no fear, with a lot of confidence and aggressiveness says a lot about his will, his desire and toughness and, more than anything else, the culture that we’ve been able to develop that he wanted to get in there and help his team.”

Trent Forrest scored on a layup, Patrick Williams scored off a feed from Forrest, RaiQuan Gray made two big free throws, Williams made another layup with 22 seconds left and then Forrest made two free throws with 8 seconds left.

All 10 of those points were crucial because Syracuse star Elijah Hughes was making shots on the other end. The junior, who was a game-time decision with a groin injury, scored a game-high 25 points on the afternoon.

He had one more chance to tie the game in the final moments, too.

After Forrest's free throws, Hughes dribbled up the court to attempt a potential game-tying 3. Hamilton said the strategy was to foul. Forrest said that as well, but admitted Hughes did a good job of acting like he was about to rise up as they approached him and the Seminoles didn't want to foul him in the act of shooting.

So he got the shot off. It rimmed out.

And the Seminoles had won their 20th straight home game.

Williams finished with 17 points, Walker added 16 (in just 18 minutes) and Forrest had 13 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals and six turnovers.

Gray added a game-high 10 rebounds for the Seminoles, who host the Panthers at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Joseph Girard scored 22 for Syracuse in 40 minutes. Buddy Boeheim, who came into the game averaging over 16 points per contest, was held scoreless on 0 of 7 shooting from the floor (0 of 5 from 3).

"The respect we have for what he’s capable of doing is the reason why we gave him a tremendous amount of attention,” Hamilton said. “Very seldom do you see a guy who’s going out and getting 18 straight points in an ACC game (which Boeheim did earlier this season). That gets your attention.

"The fact that we were able to win by 3, another typical ACC blowout, and one of their top players didn’t score as well as he is normally capable of scoring, says a lot about how important the defensive job that we did on him was.”

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