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No. 17 Louisville routs Florida State

Feb 28, 2015 - 10:50 PM Tallahassee, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Wayne Blackshear scored 18 points and No. 17 Louisville rolled to an 81-59 win over Florida State on Saturday to cap a tumultuous week.

Montrezl Harrell added 16 points and Anton Gill scored 14 for the Cardinals (23-6, 11-5 ACC), who have won three in a row, the last two while dealing with the situation surrounding Chris Jones.

Jones, the talented senior guard who was dismissed from the team last Sunday, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of felony rape and sodomy in a case involving the alleged assault of two women last weekend.

The Cardinals shot over 48 percent in the first half to lead by 10 at the break and went up by as much as 26 points in the second half. Quentin Snider added 11 points in the win and Terry Rozier scored 10.

"I think we responded as a team should respond to a difficult situation," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino. "We played great team basketball for the third time this year."

Montay Brandon scored 13 points to lead Florida State (15-15, 7-10), which has lost three in a row. The Seminoles got 12 points each from Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Devon Bookert and 11 from Boris Bojanovsky, but turned the ball over 21 times.

It was the first meeting between the teams since Florida State beat Louisville 76-69 in the Metro Conference title game on March 9, 1991.

"I thought the kids fought hard. I wasn't disappointed in the effort. I was disappointed in our execution," said Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton. "I think we're going to be a better basketball team as we move into the remainder of the season and next year. As for this year, I think our attitude is good."

The Cardinals never trailed. Harrell scored six points during a 10-0 run to open the game and they held Florida State scoreless for the first 6:53.

The Seminoles shot under 35 percent in the first half, finished 1-for-10 on 3- pointers, and got only as close as five. Rathan-Mayes, the team's leading scorer, did not get his first points until there were 82 seconds remaining in the half.

The Cardinals led by as much as 15 with under 2 1/2 minutes left before the break. Their lead dipped to single digits only briefly after halftime when Rathan-Mayes cut it to eight.

Game Notes

A highlight for Florida State came when Bojanovsky converted a steal into a buzzer-beating dunk to end the first half ... The teams were both members of the Metro Conference from 1976-91. Louisville joined the ACC this season and has a 31-9 lead in the all-time series ... The Cardinals played their final road game of the season. They will host No. 9 Notre Dame on Wednesday and No. 2 Virginia next Saturday ... Florida State finishes the regular season at home against Pittsburgh next Saturday.