Malik Reneau racked up his eighth double-double of the season and Tre Donaldson tallied 21 points in his hometown to help Miami avenge its earlier rivalry loss with an 83-73 defeat of Florida State on Tuesday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
Reneau finished with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting and 12 rebounds. He tallied 15 points and eight boards in the second half. Donaldson scored 15 of his points after halftime as well, adding six assists and six rebounds for the Hurricanes (22-6, 11-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won seven of their last nine.
Tru Washington added 11 points and seven rebounds and Shelton Henderson chipped in 10 and six. Miami held a hefty 42-23 rebounding advantage, turning 16 offensive boards — including seven by Reneau — into 25 second-chance points.
Lajae Jones led the Seminoles (14-14, 7-8) with 21 points, supported by 14 points and a team-high five rebounds from Chauncey Wiggins.
Florida State was 8 of 28 (28.6%) from 3-point range, while Miami made 9 of 21 perimeter shots (42.9%).
The Hurricanes led for the majority of the first half but struggled to create real separation, never leading by more than seven.
After falling behind 23-16, the Seminoles twice cut the deficit to one point but Miami never surrendered the lead, with Washington hitting a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to give the Hurricanes a 38-32 lead at the intermission.
Washington led all scorers at the break with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-2 from outside the arc. Wiggins (nine points, five boards) led the way for Florida State over the opening 20.
The main distinction between the two teams’ largely similar first-half stat lines was Miami shooting 50% from 3 (6 of 12) while the Seminoles shot 26.7% (4 of 15).
The Hurricanes maintained that lead well into the second half before Florida State rattled off a 13-3 run to tie the game at 57 with 7:54 left on a four-point play by Kobe MaGee.
Miami was undeterred, scoring the next five points and immediately responding with a 16-5 surge to take its biggest lead, 73-62, with 3:16 left. Reneau grabbed two offensive boards and scored five points during the early part of that sequence, and Donaldson finished it with a personal 7-0 run to effectively ice the game.
