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Sunrise, FL - No. 23 Florida State broke open a two-point game early in the second half with a 15-3 run en route to staving off a gritty Manhattan squad by an 83-67 count in the first game of the 2016 Orange Bowl Classic at the BB&T Center.
The Seminoles improve to 11-1 while the Jaspers fall to 3-8.
In the opening stanza, Manhattan shot a blistering 56.5 percent (13-of-23) from the floor thanks to making good on 12-of-16 to start the contest, including nine-straight over an eight-plus minute span.
Trailing 25-15 with 11:45 to play until halftime, the Jaspers ripped off a 17-4 run in assuming its largest lead of the game at 32-29 following a Zavier Turner (Jr., Indianapolis, IN / Ball State) three pointer with 6:50 to play until halftime. Freshman Na'Quan Council (Blackwood, NJ / Scotland Performance) fueled the spurt with two huge triples while Turner had five points.
After Jonathan Issac's three-point play gave Florida State its aforementioned 10-point lead Manhattan locked in on defense and held the Seminoles without a field goal over the next 8:56. FSU finally broke the drought on Terrance Mann's layup at the 2:49 mark.
Despite the prolonged offensive drought, Florida State was able to take a 46-41 lead at the break by shooting 66.7 percent (14-of-21) from the floor and 72.7 percent (16-of-22) from the line.
After halftime, Turner opened the scoring with a three pointer before the Seminoles responded with the aforementioned game-changing 15-3 run that pushed their advantage to 61-47 with 13:16 to play.
Junior Zane Waterman (Winston-Salem, NC / Fayetteville Academy) would stop the bleeding with a three pointer on the next possessiono to trim the deficit to 11 but that was as close as Manhattan would get the rest of the way.
Turner led all players with 18 points to go along with five assists while freshman Aaron Walker Jr. (Brooklyn, NY / Cardozo) added 14 points, four assists and two steals to pace the backcourt. Waterman had 12 points and junior Ahmed Ismail (Cairo, Egypt / Colby CC) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds to lead the Jasper bigs.
Dwayne Bacon scored 16 points to pace three double-figure performers for a Florida State squad that shot 56.3 percent (27-of-48) for the game.
Manhattan returns to action at St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday, December 20 with opening tip tabbed for 7:00 pm.
