Florida State Advances--Get Hokies Next

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By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Boston College wrapped up the first 0-19 season in ACC men's basketball by losing to Florida State 88-66 in the first round of the conference tournament Tuesday, as Devon Bookert led the Seminoles with 15 points.

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This was not a rout from start to finish and actually was relatively close at halftime, with FSU ahead 39-30. But the 11th-seeded Seminoles (19-12) scored the first six points of the second half and never really were threatened again.

The 14th-seeded Eagles (7-25) got 21 points from Eli Carter.

Malik Beasley and Dwayne Bacon added 13 points apiece for a balanced FSU team, which faces Virginia Tech on Wednesday.

In the only other ACC game Tuesday, Maverick Rowan made a career-high six 3s and finished with 24 points to lead N.C. State past Wake Forest 75-72. The Wolfpack play 19th-ranked Duke on Wednesday.

Boston College's historically bad season came courtesy of a freshman-filled roster that lost some key players to injuries at various points. Still, the Eagles are only the sixth ACC men's basketball team to go winless - and first since Maryland went 0-14 in 1986-87, the season after Len Bias' death.

No one had managed to lose 19 of 19 games in the league; the ACC went to an 18-game conference regular season in 2012-13.

Making things worse for BC: Its football team went 0-8 in ACC games, so the school is the first in league history to put zeros in the win column in the two major sports in the same academic year.

Against Florida State, Boston College senior center Dennis Clifford had 15 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with 9½ minutes left. Right then, BC's deficit was somewhat manageable, at 65-56, but quickly climbed back up to 15 points.

FSU started poorly enough, making 1 of 7 field-goal tries, and Boston College was ahead 19-17 with under 8½ minutes to go in the first half.

It helped that the Eagles began by shooting 6 of 9, quite a start for a team that entered the day ranked last in the ACC - and 304th of 346 Division I teams - with a .408 field-goal percentage.

But as one might have expected, BC's offense eventually bogged down: It didn't make a field goal over the last 4½ minutes of the first half and finished the game at 45 percent. Florida State, meanwhile, made 59 percent of its attempts.

TIP-INS

Boston College: Nine true freshmen played for the Eagles this season, the second-highest total in the country. Northern Arizona had 10 true freshmen see action. ... Last made it past the ACC quarterfinals in 2007, the school's second season in the conference.

Florida State: Forced five early steals and scored the game's first 10 points off turnovers. ... Its five consecutive victories over BC mark the longest streak for either team in the schools' series. ... This is the ninth time in the last 11 seasons that the Seminoles won at least 19 games. ... Came in averaging 77.5 points per game, the team's highest since 1992-93, when FSU averaged 86.3 en route to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT

Florida State: Plays sixth-seeded Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament's second round on Wednesday.