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No. 3 Virginia beats FSU in ACC QFs

Mar 12, 2015 - 9:41 PM Greensboro, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Evan Nolte and Mike Tobey scored 11 points apiece and No. 3 Virginia held on for a tougher-than-expected 58-44 win over Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Thursday.

Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia's leading scorer in the regular season, didn't make a shot until the second half and finished with 10 points. Six of them came in a 10-2 run to end the game, which helped Virginia (29-2) stem a Florida State rally in the second half.

The top-seeded Cavaliers -- the tournament's defending champions -- will play North Carolina in the semifinals on Friday after the fifth-seeded Tar Heels beat Louisville later Thursday.

They got second-leading scorer Justin Anderson back after an eight-game absence and had a 34-17 lead at halftime but let Florida State get within five down the stretch.

It was a six-point game with 3:22 remaining, but the ninth-seeded Seminoles scored just once after that, on a Phil Cofer dunk.

"In the second half there were enough plays that were made for us to be successful, but we labored," said Virginia coach Tony Bennett. "We labored offensively at times and had break downs defensively, and we had just enough."

Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored 13 points to lead Florida State (17-16), which had held on to beat Clemson in the second round on Wednesday.

The Cavaliers were coming off a 59-57 loss to Louisville in the final seconds on Saturday, which snapped their nine-game winning streak.

They had Anderson in the lineup for the first time since he broke a finger on his left hand in a win over Louisville Feb. 11. Anderson appeared close to a return before undergoing an emergency appendectomy last Thursday. He averaged 13.4 points during the regular season and was scoreless in 12 minutes against Florida State.

Virginia didn't miss a shot over the first 8 1/2 minutes of the game, opening with a 16-2 run.

"They were extremely well prepared defensively and offensively," said Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton. "They made us work on defense."

The Cavs shot better than 63 percent in the first half despite Brogdon going 0-for-1 in limited minutes. Anthony Gill led them with nine points in the half -- his only nine points of the game.

Brogdon's first field goal came with nine minutes remaining and gave Virginia a 41-34 lead.

Game Notes

Virginia took a 23-22 lead in the all-time series with its fifth consecutive win over the Seminoles ... Florida State made the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament for a school-record ninth consecutive season and is the only team to reach that far in each of the last nine years.