FSU knocks off No. 13 Virginia, 69-62

For the first 19 minutes and 49 seconds, Malik Beasley played perhaps his worst basketball at Florida State. He missed all five of his shots, and turned the ball over three times leading to easy Virginia scores.

Down six with just 11 seconds left in the half, FSU forced Virginia into a 5-second violation when they couldn't inbound the ball, and a few seconds later Xavier Rathan-Mayes found Beasley in the corner, who drained it at the buzzer. It turned out that Beasley's three was just the spark that the Noles needed.

The Noles trailed 28-25 at the break, and it would have been worse if FSU's defense hadn't played an inspired half, and if Dwayne Bacon and Jarquez Smith hadn't teamed up for some big buckets.

In the second half, Beasley was nearly unguardable, and it opened up the Noles offense to score in a way they haven't scored against Virginia in several years. They would go on to score 44 points in just 31 2nd half possessions.

The Noles came out of the break with a 9-2 run. Virginia answered to take a 39-36 lead. That's when the Noles turned it on.

Beasley made a three. Terance Mann followed with a nice drive for a bucket. After a Devon Bookert three the Cavaliers were forced to call a timeout.

Coach Hamilton went for the throat, coming out of the timeout in the first zone of the night, and immediately Beasley got a steal and was awarded free throws.

Virginia quickly figured out the zone, however, and FSU had to go back to the man-to-man. The two teams traded baskets until London Parrentes made a three to cut the lead to three at the final media timeout.

Of concern though was that in the last action before that timeout, Beasley and Perrantes knocked knees and suddenly Beasley was out of the game, and sent to the locker room.

He'd scored 15 2nd half points and hadn't missed a shot.

But any real worry that his injury would derail the Noles was quickly alleviated when XRM took his man 1-on-1 for a jumper, and then teamed up with Devon Bookert for a steal on the other side of the court. At that point Beasley re-entered the game, and Virginia had to start fouling.

The good guys knocked down their FTs, and walked away with a 69-62 win.

Dwayne Bacon, who kept FSU in the game with a great first half, led FSU with 18 points and nine rebounds. Malik Beasley had 17, and XRM had 11. Jarquez Smith also played his best minutes of the season, and finished with eight points and five boards.

The Noles are now 12-5 (2-3), and next play Wednesday at Louisville.