Andrew Rohde scored a season-high 17 points, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with under a minute to go, to help Virginia escape with a 60-57 Atlantic Coast Conference win over Florida State on Tuesday in Charlottesville, Va.
With the game tied at 55 and the shot clock winding down, Rohde heaved a desperation 3-pointer from the right corner to beat the buzzer and give Virginia (15-15, 8-11 ACC) a three-point lead with 58 seconds left.
Florida State (16-14, 7-12) kept its hopes alive as Justin Thomas picked up a steal and launched an outlet pass to Watkins for the dunk to narrow the deficit to one point with 11.8 seconds remaining.
The Seminoles fouled Dai Dai Ames with five seconds on the clock, and the sophomore hit both for a 60-57 Cavaliers lead. On the ensuing possession, Jerry Deng was called for an offensive foul on an inbounds play, sealing the Virginia victory.
Ames finished with a team-high 18 points for the Cavaliers, who beat the Seminoles for the fourth straight time. Elijah Saunders added 12 points for Virginia, which won despite leading scorer Isaac McKneely being held to single-digit scoring (9) for the first time since early February.
Jamir Watkins paced Florida State with 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Watkins was 5-of-10 shooting after the break, while the rest of the team went just 6 of 21. With Malique Ewin out for a second straight game due to a foot injury, Christian Nitu and Alier Maluk stepped up with a season-high eight points each.
With the win, Virginia kept its hopes alive for a first-round bye in next week’s ACC tournament despite being outscored 20-0 in bench points and 30-16 in the paint.
Virginia started strong, grabbing an 11-6 lead with McKneely scoring the first five points and Ames adding the next six. The Cavaliers, however, then saw two scoring droughts lasting a combined 11:17.
The first cold spell allowed Florida State to string together eight straight points to go on top 16-13. Rohde kept Virginia afloat by scoring his team’s final 11 points of the half. The Seminoles went into the break on top 28-27.
