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Douglas, Florida State shock Clemson

Feb 8, 2009 - 5:58 AM CLEMSON, South Carolina (Ticker) -- Coming off a blowout win at home over a top-five team, Clemson appeared poised to do the same Saturday against Florida State. However, the Seminoles had a different idea.

Toney Douglas scored 23 points and Solomon Alabi had a career-high 17 while adding nine rebounds and five blocks as Florida State rallied to shock No. 10 Clemson, 65-61, on Saturday.

The Seminoles (18-5, 5-3 ACC) trailed 57-42 with just 8:54 remaining before storming in front behind a 22-2 run. Douglas scored 11 during the spurt and Alabi added eight for Florida State, which trailed by as many as 19 after halftime.

Florida State scored just three points in the first five minutes of the second half to fall behind, 44-25. But the visitors turned up the defensive pressure to shock the home crowd and register a resume-building win.

"We had to have stops if we were going to have any chance," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton told The State. "It was almost like we played the game and didn't worry about the score. I looked up and realized we were right where we needed to be."

Clemson (19-3, 5-3) snapped a 20-game regular-season losing streak to Duke in impressive fashion on Wednesday, blasting the Blue Devils in a 74-47 victory.

Against the Seminoles, the Tigers led, 30-22, at halftime and scored the first 10 points after intermission. A 3-pointer by Trevor Booker ballooned the Tigers' lead to 15, but they went cold from the field and the Seminoles heated up.

"There isn't anyone we can point the finger at except ourselves," Clemson swingman K.C. Rivers told the newspaper. "We shot ourselves in the foot.

"We just didn't keep our foot on the gas pedal. Wednesday night we saw (Duke) getting weak, and we took advantage of it. We didn't do that. We gave them life, that's what happened."

Florida State scored on four consecutive possessions to trim the lead to six and, after Booker made a layup, the Seminoles reeled off nine consecutive points to move ahead, 60-59, with two minutes left.

The Tigers only made 1-of-11 field-goal attempts to close the game and Douglas sank 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to ice the win.

A red-shirt freshman from Nigeria, Alabi made 8-of-10 shots from the field and blocked David Potter with just under a minute to play and Florida State clinging to a one-point lead.

Booker and Demontez Stitt scored 11 points apiece to lead Clemson, which failed in its attempt to join Duke and North Carolina at the top of the ACC standings.

"I told the team if anybody in this room thinks we played with the same energy and urgency and toughness we did the other night, they're mistaken," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell told The State. "It wasn't really close."

Clemson was ice cold from behind the arc, making just 6-of-24 attempts from long range. Terrence Oglesby scored only five points, more than eight below his season average, on 1-of-6 from deep while committing six turnovers.