Primo Spears hit two important, late baskets and scored a team-high 13 points as Florida State beat Notre Dame 67-58 on Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Ind., for its fourth straight victory.
Spears had nine points in the second half, including a jumper in response to a 3-pointer from Braeden Shrewsberry that got Notre Dame within four points with 2:24 remaining in regulation. Following another Shrewsberry 3 that made it 61-58, Spears drove to the hoop, spun and knocked down a floater with 56 seconds to play.
Jamir Watkins and Baba Miller each hit a pair of free throws down the stretch as the Seminoles held on.
Watkins finished with 12 points for Florida State (10-6, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which shot 48 percent in the second half and went 13-for-15 from the free-throw line for the game.
Meanwhile, freshman Markus Burton scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half for the Fighting Irish (7-10, 2-4), who went just 3-for-11 from the charity stripe and committed 14 turnovers in the contest while falling for the third time in four games.
Florida State led 33-29 at halftime, then scored the first eight points out of the break. The Seminoles made three of their first four shots in the second half, while Notre Dame missed its first five attempts.
However, the Irish scored eight of the game’s next 10 points, including four from Burton, to get within 43-37 with 13:41 remaining.
The Seminoles quickly pulled away with an 8-0 burst in 85 seconds to lead 51-37. The Irish answered again, this time with a 9-0 run that was capped by J.R. Konieczny’s trey with 8:15 remaining, making it 51-46.
Florida State got its lead back up to 10, but back-to-back layups from Burton got Notre Dame within 58-52 with 3:26 to play.
The Irish used an 8-0 first-half run to lead 24-20 before going cold, and Florida State then scored nine straight points to go up 29-24.
Notre Dame shot 44 percent from the floor before intermission, while the Seminoles connected at a 33.3 percent clip.
–Field Level Media