Times wires
Thursday, February 10, 2011
ATLANTA — Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton knows his team has room for improvement.
At least against struggling Georgia Tech, the Seminoles could deal with their mistakes while getting a road win they had to have coming off a 20-point loss to North Carolina.
Chris Singleton scored 16, Michael Snaer had 15 and FSU used an early 14-point run to beat the Yellow Jackets 72-63 Thursday.
The Seminoles (17-7, 7-3 ACC) needed a win to beef up their NCAA resume, especially after the 89-69 rout by UNC and a 62-44 loss at Clemson before that.
They came to the right place.
For the second straight game Georgia Tech (10-13, 3-7) had a devastating scoreless stretch early. Last weekend, Clemson put together a 22-0 run on the way to a 65-56 win. This time, it went nearly seven minutes without scoring, a display that included 11 straight missed shots and five turnovers.
"We've been a team that's kind of been in transition all year long," Hamilton said. "We've played some excellent basketball at times. We've also played like a team trying to find itself."
FSU had a sloppy performance, turning it over 17 times and letting Tech hang around despite shooting just 30 percent. But the Seminoles were never seriously threatened by a team with few offensive weapons beyond Iman Shumpert (25 points) and Glen Rice (24).
Singleton also had 10 rebounds, and former Clearwater High star Okaro White added 12 points for FSU.
"I hope we keep winning while we're developing," Hamilton said. "If we can get through this stretch, hopefully later on we'll be a well-oiled machine. "