Mfiondu Kabengele scored 19 points as No. 16 Florida State cruised past Clemson 77-64 Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C., to win its school-record eighth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference game.
The Seminoles, who already had secured a fourth straight 20-win season, improved to 21-5 overall and 9-4 in league play. They now sit in a tie for fourth place in the ACC with Louisville with five league games remaining, including three at home.
Florida State has won six of its past seven games against the Tigers.
Clemson (15-11, 5-8) is fighting to stay on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Tigers were coming off back-to-back one-point losses at Miami and at Louisville.
The Tigers already have lost more games than they did all of last season when they finished 25-10 after advancing to the Sweet 16.
Kabengele on Monday made 9 of 13 shots from the floor and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Seminoles, who outrebounded Clemson 43-32.
Junior guard Trent Forrest added 14 points for Florida State while senior center Christ Koumadje had 10 points.
Kabengele scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the first half and the Seminoles closed the half on a 15-2 run that provided a 38-23 cushion.
Florida State shot 48.5 percent to Clemson's 30 percent in the first 20 minutes and the Seminoles outrebounded the Tigers 25-15.
The Seminoles' lead swelled to as much as 18 early in the second half before Clemson used a 9-0 run to pull within 59-52 with eight minutes remaining.
Florida State responded with an 8-1 run to push its advantage back to double figures, and Clemson never drew closer than 10 the rest of the night.
The Tigers got a game-high 20 points from graduate guard Marcquise Reed while forward Elijah Thomas (13), guard Shelton Mitchell (12) and forward David Skara (10) each scored in double figures.
--Field Level Media
Florida State | Clemson | |
Mfiondu Kabengele 19 | Scoring | Marcquise Reed 20 |
Terance Mann 4 | Assists | Shelton Mitchell 6 |
Mfiondu Kabengele 11 | Rebounds | Elijah Thomas 6 |
Trent Forrest 4 | Free Throws Made | Marcquise Reed 3 |
Trent Forrest 1 | Steals | Shelton Mitchell 4 |
Mfiondu Kabengele 2 | Blocks | Elijah Thomas 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Florida State | 77 | 48.3 | 7-18 | 12-17 | 12 | 40 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
Clemson | 64 | 38.3 | 8-23 | 10-16 | 11 | 28 | 4 | 5 | 11 |