Syracuse vs. Florida State: Box score, stats, game summary and more ft. Leonard Hamilton

No. 14 Syracuse kept its season alive in the ACC Tournament by defeating No. 11 Florida State 66-62. Syracuse (14-18) will have to win the ACC Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, Florida State (17-15) bids goodbye to head coach Leonard Hamilton, who has coached at Florida State since 2002. A trailblazing African-American coach, Hamilton is retiring at age 76.

Syracuse vs. Florida State box score

Syracuse

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	MIN
JJ Starling	27	5	2	2	1	3	1	38
L. Taylor	2	4	0	0	0	0	5	23
J. Carlos	5	8	2	1	0	1	2	38
J. Davis	14	6	1	1	1	2	0	30
E. Lampkin	14	9	0	0	1	2	3	34
K. Cuffe Jr.	2	1	1	0	0	0	4	7
C. Bell	0	2	0	0	0	1	2	15
P. Majstorovic	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	10
N. McLeod	2	3	0	0	0	0	1	6

Florida State

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	MIN
C. Jackson	2	1	1	1	0	1	1	14
J. Watkins	16	11	3	2	0	2	4	38
T. Bol Bowen	4	4	0	0	1	1	1	16
M. Ewin	8	2	2	1	0	0	4	31
J. Thomas	6	2	1	0	1	3	2	30
B. Holt	2	2	0	0	0	1	1	5
D. Davis	10	3	0	2	1	1	2	26
J. Deng	10	2	0	0	0	1	3	23
AJ Swinton	2	1	1	0	0	0	2	8
A. Maluk	2	3	0	1	0	0	0	9

Syracuse vs. Florida State Game Summary

Syracuse had control of the game for most of the evening. The Orange opened up with a 15-8 lead on an Eddie Lampkin layup. Florida State drew even at 23-23 on a Malique Ewin free throw. Syracuse led 30-26 at halftime.

Syracuse pushed its lead to 50-34 with 13:15 to play on a slam dunk from Naheem McLeod. But with the game looking over, Florida State pieced together one more rally. The Seminoles pulled within 62-61, but Syracuse's fouling prevented FSU from ever getting a clean look at a potential tying shot.

Syracuse was led by JJ Starling, who finished with 27 points on 12-for-23 shooting. Eddie Lampkin added 14 points and nine rebounds. Jyare Davis tallied 12 points.

Syracuse won the rebounding battle 42-32, but shot just 2-for-14 from 3-point range and 12-for-22 from the free throw line.

Florida State was paced by Jamir Watkins, who scored 16 points and grabbed 11 boards. Jerry Deng added 10 more points off the bench for the Seminoles, as did Daquan Davis.

Florida State also converted just two 3-point shots (in 10 attempts). The Seminoles shot 21 free throws in the second half, making 15, which helped them pull back into the game.

Syracuse will advance to face No. 6 seed SMU on Wednesday night in the ACC Tournament. Florida State's NCAA Tournament hopes are essentially finished and unless the Seminoles end up in another post-season tournament, Coach Hamilton's career is now complete.