Career night from Terance Mann as FSU basketball knocks off Georgia Tech

With seven and a half minutes left in the first half, Florida State found themselves trailing Georgia Tech 21-20. In the final 7:23 before the break - largely behind the aggressive drives of Terance Mann - FSU scored 30 points. That was all the cushion they would need to cruise to a comfortable 88-77 win.

The early portion of the game was all Georgia Tech. It was ugly. It was slow. There were a lot of fouls. The Yellow Jackets struggled shooting the ball, but their offensive rebounding would keep them in the game all night. Then Terance Mann got rolling, and Georgia Tech had no answer. At the break FSU led 50-36.

The Jackets were able to cut the lead to single digits early in the 2nd half, but they were never able to make a big run. Florida State was too disruptive on defense, forcing 16 turnovers in the game. And FSU’s offense was too efficient, scoring the most points all season against GT.

Terance Mann had a great game. He made his first seven shots on his way to 19 first half points. After a quiet opening to the 2nd half, he scored 11 more late on his way to a career high 30 points.

His offensive heroics were limited, however, by FSU’s inability to close out defensive possessions with rebounds. Georgia Tech grabbed 44% of the available offensive boards, and this kept the game from getting out of hand.

Still, they were never able to get the lead below seven in the 2nd half.

Braian Angola hit a couple of big 3s down the stretch on his way to 19 points. Phil Cofer did his work early, scoring 12.

The Seminoles are now 15-5 (4-4), and host Miami on Saturday.