’Noles win opener; ’Canes roll
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Solomon Alabi’s 17 points led a balanced Florida State offense in an 87-61 win over Jacksonville Monday night in the season opener for both teams.
The 7-foot-1 Alabi helped the Seminoles take advantage of their height in the rout.
Five Seminoles finished in double figures with highly recruited freshman Michael Snaer adding 14 in his collegiate debut.
Florida State took control of the game early with a 20-2 run midway through the opening half to take a 24-8 lead. By midway through the second half, the Seminoles increased their advantage to 55-24, and only the final score was in question.
Senior guard Ben Smith led Jacksonville with 17 points. The Dolphins shot just 31.7 percent in the game.
Alabi grabbed eight rebounds. Ryan Reid, a 6-8 senior, added 13 points and eight rebounds.
Xavier Gibson, at 6-11, and Deividas Dulkys also scored in double figures for Florida State with 12 and 11 points, respectively. The Seminoles shot 59.6 percent in the game against the outsized Dolphins.
Florida State hosts Stetson Wednesday and Jacksonville is off until Nov. 24 at California.
Miami 108, Nova Southeastern 58: At Coral Gables, James Dews scored 19 points to lead Miami past Nova Southeastern.
Malcolm Grant added 17 points and Durand Scott had 14 points and eight assists for the Hurricanes, who saw all 13 players score in the game.
Miami (2-0) jumped out to a 24-6 lead to start the game and never looked back. The Hurricanes led 61-18 at halftime and by as many as 53 in the second half.
The 108 points was the most scored by Miami since a 111-101 win over Tennessee Tech on Feb. 8, 1989.
Miami hit 12 of its 14 three-pointers in the first half behind 12-of-17 shooting.
South Florida 66, Virginia 49: Dominique Jones had 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals to lead South Florida past cold-shooting Virginia.
The Bulls (2-0) began the second half with a 17-5 run to take a 48-32 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the game. The closest Virginia (1-1) got the rest of the way was 10 points. The Cavaliers were held to one field goal in the final 7 minutes.
Augustus Gilchrist had 18 points for South Florida, and Jarrid Famous finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Sylven Landesberg had 14 points to lead Virginia, which shot just under 33 percent (17 of 52).