Lankin's 22 points leads No. 3 Miami to 74-68 win over Florida St

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Behind 22 points from Shane Larkin and a 63.8 team shooting percentage, No. 3 Miami erased an early double-digit deficit and slipped past Florida State, 74-68, for its 12th consecutive victory on Wednesday night.

Larkin, a 5-11 sophomore, scored 16 in the second half and essentially took over down the stretch. The Orlando native finished 9-of-15 from the floor and made 2-of-4 3-point attempts.

"We put the ball in Shane Larkin's hands and he dribbled around until he got a shot," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. "There was no sense in even trying to run the offense with the way (Florida State was) defending the perimeter. They weren't going to give us any 3s."

After FSU tied the game at 51 with 10:05 to play, Larkin scored 13 of his team's final 23 points to ensure that the Seminoles wouldn't pull off the upset.

That much wasn't certain, though, until FSU's Michael Snaer missed a long 3-pointer with the Seminoles trailing by four with 15 seconds to play. Ian Miller came close to tying the game with a 3-point attempt that rimmed out on the previous possession.

"I've told everyone I think (Larkin) is the No. 1 point guard in the ACC for sure and possibly one of the top two or three point guards in the country," Hamilton said. "I haven't seen anybody that has the whole package like he does."

Miami started about as poorly as possible, absorbed Florida State's best shot and still escaped.

After Florida State began the game with a 13-2 run, the Hurricanes (20-3, 11-0 ACC) countered with a 25-5 run of their own that helped them to a lead by as much as 11 in the first half.

Florida State, though, battled back in the second half, rallying from down 51-39 for a 12-0 run that tied the game at 51 with 10:10 remaining in the game.

"We definitely got punched in the mouth early," Larkin said. "But that was a great thing tonight because we needed that knowing that we're going to Clemson on Sunday."

Center Reggie Johnson added 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Hurricanes, who are the first team to start 11-0 in the ACC since North Carolina did it in 2000-01.

Larranaga credited Johnson with turning around the game after FSU jumped out to its early lead.

"I really thought Reggie was the difference," he said.

Junior forward Okaro White led Florida State (13-11, 5-6) with 15 points and seven rebounds, but fouled out with 2:04 to go.

"I think if we're going to finish strong, we're going to need a lot of contributions from a number of players," Hamilton said.

The Hurricanes shot their way out of an early deficit and took a 38-30 lead into halftime.

Playing for the first time with their newly minted No. 3 ranking -- which matches the highest in school history -- the Hurricanes fell into a quick 13-2 hole after Florida State began the game with a new, freshman-heavy starting lineup.

Miami's deficit quickly evaporated once coach Jim Larranaga switched to a bigger lineup and the Hurricanes' guards started heating up from the floor.

The Hurricanes shot 73.9 percent (17-for-23) from the floor in the first half and got points from eight different players. Miami featured plenty of balance, too. Center Reggie Johnson led the way with eight first-half points, and four other Hurricanes scored six.

"We got off to a slow start. Our defense really wasn't Miami defense," Johnson said. "So when I came in the game I wanted to get the team a boost and I think I did that in the first half."

Florida State freshman Devon Bookert drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to trim the Seminoles' deficit to eight points at intermission.

NOTES: Miami earned its first victory at Florida State since Jan. 29, 2006, snapping a streak of six consecutive losses. ... The Hurricanes are the sixth team to go from unranked to the top five in four weeks or less since the AP Top 25 began in 1989-90 and the first since Connecticut accomplished the feat in 2010-11. ... Florida State has hosted three top-10 teams this season and is 0-3 in those games. The Seminoles previously lost to then-No. 6 Florida and then-No. 5 Duke.