Florida State holds off Louisville

Florida State scored the first 14 points against Louisville in front of a sold-out crowd at Tallahassee, Fla., and held the lead for the entirety of the game.

However, things got close late, with Louisville coming as close as one point away with 2:04 remaining.

The 10th-ranked Seminoles (18-2, 6-1 in the ACC) regained control and went on to a 73-68 victory on Saturday, beating the 12th-ranked Cardinals for the first time since Louisville joined the conference in 2014.

Florida State won its 17th consecutive home game.

Forward Jonathan Isaac, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds, blocked a shot and guard Dwayne Bacon made two free throws with 21 seconds remaining, allowing Florida State to hang on.

Isaac recorded his third straight double-double.

Tony Hicks of Louisville (16-4, 4-3) scored a season-high 16 points off the bench.

Free throws were an integral part of the game as the teams combined to make 60 trips to the line.

Florida State knocked down 25 of 36 free throws, with Louisville converting on 16 of 24 chances.

Louisville scored got 40 of its 68 points from the bench, with Florida State’s reserves managing only 11.

Guard Dwayne Bacon of Florida State, who entered Saturday averaging 17.4 points per game, had eight points on 3 of 11 shooting at the break. However, he would extend his streak of games with at least 10 points scored to 30, finishing with 16 points.

Louisville guard Donovan Mitchell was held scoreless until 11:34 remained in the game. The Cardinals’ leading scorer this season, averaging 13.8 points, finished with a season-low six points, in part due to picking up four fouls.

The Cardinals were within three points of Florida State with two minutes remaining in the first half as center Mangok Mathiang who led Louisville with nine points and seven rebounds before halftime.

Aided by a cold spell from Florida State, which went cold and made only 3 of 16 shots, Louisville outscored the Seminoles 35-27 after that early run and headed to the locker room only down by six.

Louisville is 4-4 against Top 25 opponents.

During this recent six game stretch against teams ranked inside the Top 25, tied for an NCAA record, Florida State came out 5-1, the highest record in NCAA history among teams playing six straight against Top 25 opponents.

Florida State heads to Atlanta on Wednesday for a matchup against unranked Georgia Tech. Louisville will play its second and final game of its short trip in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.