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GREENSBORO, N.C. (seminoles.com) — Sophomore Balsa Koprivica scored his career-high of 17 points and pulled down his career-high of 11 rebounds to lead the Seminoles to a 69-66 win over North Carolina in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum. The No. 2 seeded Seminole will face No. 4 seeded Georgia Tech for their second ACC Tournament championship on Saturday at 8:30.
The Seminoles led by 13 in the first half, lost the lead to the Tar Heels then rallied, from five down midway through the second half to win the game in the final seconds. The sixth-seeded Tar Heels had a chance for a desperation shot to tie it with one second left, but Anthony Harris couldn’t catch Leaky Black’s half-court pass to get up a tying 3-pointer.
Florida State is now 16-5 (11-4 in the ACC) and North Carolina is now 18-10 (10-6 in the ACC). The Seminoles won their first ACC Tournament championship in 2012.
Redshirt junior Anthony Polite hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:06 left and the Seminoles held the Tar Heels to one of eight shooting from the field late in the game to earn their second win of the season over the Tar Heels.
Freshman Scottie Barnes scored 11 points, pulled down five rebounds, and was credited with a game-high four assists. Barnes was four of seven shooting (.571) and a perfect three of three from the line. In the last five games, Barnes is averaging 11 points and shooting .575 from the field (23 of 40).
Redshirt junior Malik Osborne led Florida State in the first half at the half with nine points on three of three shooting from beyond the arc. Redshirt junior RaiQuan Gray was two points shy of his 13th consecutive double-figure scoring game as he finished with eight points and five rebounds.
Koprivica, one of the top shooters in school history, was seven of 11 shooting (.636) against the Tar Heels and is shooting .603 from the field this season. The sophomore also had a game-high four blocked shots, contributing to the Seminoles’ seven blocked shot total.
Florida State has blocked at least four shots in 18 of its 21 games this season and leads the ACC in blocked shots.
Polite scored five points and pulled down seven rebounds for the Seminoles. With his one shot from beyond the arc to give the Seminoles the lead late in the game, Polite has made at least one 3-point field goal in 18 consecutive games since a victory over Boston College on March 7, 2020.
With two steals this evening, Polite maintains a 1.2 steals per game average this season and averages nearly 1.0 steals per game for every game of his career.
Junior Sardaar Calhoun added seven points and was three of six shooting (.500) with one triple. He has made at least one 3-point shot in seven consecutive games and is shooting .455 from the 3-point line (10 of 22).
Florida State shot 45.3 percent from the floor and held North Carolina to 33.8 percent shooting from the floor. The Seminoles were five of 13 from beyond the arc (.380) and 16 of 22 from the line (.730).
North Carolina’s Caleb Love led three other Tar Heels in double-figure scoring with 13 points. Garrison Brooks had a team-high of eight rebounds and Armando Bacot contributed 12 points and six rebounds.
