CLEMSON, S.C. — Freshman Al-Amir Dawes hit a twisting, driving bucket with a second left and Clemson toppled another highly ranked team, rallying past No. 6 Florida State 70-69 on Saturday.
Trent Forrest had put Florida State up by a point with a short jumper with 8.4 seconds left. Dawes then took the ball down the right side of the lane and flipped up the game-winning shot.
Florida State’s last-chance heave was way off the mark and gave the Tigers (15-13, 9-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) another big win in their puzzling season that includes victories over then-No. 3 Duke and No. 5 Louisville.
Clemson overcame a 10-point lead in the second half. Dawes finished with 18 points.
Forrest made a 3 that put the Seminoles (24-5, 14-4) ahead 42-32 early in the second half. That’s when the Tigers used a 17-5 run over the next six minutes to get back into the game.
Forrest’s basket with 23 seconds pulled Florida State to 68-67.
Clyde Trapp had a chance to extend Clemson’s lead, but missed a pair of foul shots. Teammate Aamir Simms got the rebound and threw the ball into the open court as he approached the sideline, leading to what looked like a Florida State breakaway for Forrest.
But a referee’s whistle stopped play. After a lengthy review and discussion, Florida State was awarded possession to set up Forrest’s go-ahead basket.
Fans flooded the court after the buzzer sounded as they did after the Tigers topped Duke and Louisville.
Clemson also sent the ACC title race back into a three-way chase.
Florida State had hoped to take another step toward its first ACC regular-season crown. Instead, the Seminoles joined No. 7 Duke and No. 11 Louisville with four league losses with just over a week left.
John Newman III had 18 points for Clemson.
Devin Vessell had 14 points to lead the Seminoles, who saw their four-game win streak snapped.
Florida State, fresh off its dominant second half in an 82-67 comeback win over No. 11 Louisville, got started in hurry as it made 10 of its first 11 shots.
Malik Osborne, who was 0 of 7 on threes his past four games, hit all three he took in the game’s first four minutes as the Seminoles went out in front 21-14.
Vassell and Williams also had 3s to keep Florida State in front early on.
Florida State wound up shooting 61.5 percent (16 of 26) the first 20 minutes to lead 39-32 at the break.
The Seminoles cooled down the final 20 minutes, making just nine of 24 attempts.
THE BIG PICTURE
Florida State: The Seminoles, like Duke and Louisville, lost a chance to take control of the ACC against the scrappy Tigers. Shots that fell early for Florida State did not down the stretch in losing for just the second time in nine games this month.
Clemson: What to make of the Tigers? They’ve beaten the three ACC leaders, yet have losses to Virginia Tech, Miami and Wake Forest. Clemson has been a developmental program and is clearly playing better in January and February than it did in November and December.
UP NEXT
Florida State plays its final regular-season road game at Notre Dame on Wednesday night.
Clemson plays for the final time on the road, going to Virginia Tech on Wednesday night.