Florida State, on the road for the third game in a row, sought to stop a four-game losing streak tonight against the Dayton Flyers.
While FSU managed to stave off a blowout in the first half, foul trouble, turnovers and a high-flying Dayton attack eventually broke the game open and led to yet another Seminoles blowout loss.
The Flyers, who went 40-47 from the free throw line, established control early and never relinquished it, trailing for just 21 seconds in the opening minute of the game.
First half: Dayton 42, FSU 31
Things quickly
got out of hand, turning on a missed Alex Steen finish in the paint that saw a potential 8-7 score flip to an 11-5 deficit, setting the tone for the rest of the first period.
FSU put together some especially sloppy minutes at the halfway point, igniting the crowd and Flyers with a flagrant foul that resulted in tempers flaring between the two teams. Dayton flew out to a 30-14 lead over the course of four minutes of gametime, looking like it was about to start making it really ugly before the Seminoles strung together a 12-1 run to make it a 31-24 game at 3:30 mark.
Florida State continued to fight over the rest of the period, keeping it closer than expected after the way the game began, though damage from foul trouble continued to keep FSU out of it as Dayton added 16 points from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes of play. The Seminoles had 19 fouls in the first half, with Martin Sommerville, Robert McCray and AJ Swinton all heading to the half with three apiece.
Second half: Dayton 97, FSU 69
Florida State trailed by nine at half — and outside of a brief eight-point deficit, that was the closest the Seminoles got to the Flyers for the rest of the game.
The refs kept up their quick-to-whistle precedent in the second half, with McCray getting whistled for his fourth foul with 17:33 left to force. Immediately after, Luke Loucks took exception to the officials not calling a foul on the ensuring FSU possession and was called for a technical foul — the Seminoles’ third of the game.
Dayton continued to extend its lead after that, pushing it to 16 points off a three-point shot shortly after and eventually growing it to 20 by the time the 12:35 minute mark rolled around. That set the tone for the rest of the matchup, with the Flyers leading by as much as 28 but never less than 19 en route to Florida State’s fifth straight loss.
Kobe Magee led all Seminoles with 15 points, going 3-5 from the three. He, Cam Miles (eight points), LaJae Jones (14 points, eight rebounds), McCray (10 points) and Sommerville (11) all fouled out. FSU finished with 30 total team fouls, 16 coming in the second half.
Up next
Florida State returns home this Friday with a matchup vs. Mississippi Valley State, the worst team in college basketball (No. 365 in KenPom, No. 365 offense, No. 364 defense). The Delta Devils have lost six games by 30-plus points this season, including a 108-49 loss to Kansas State last Monday.
