Sebastian Rancik flirted with a double-double, pairing 17 points with eight rebounds to help Florida State coast to an 84-60 defeat of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
Kam Taylor chipped in 14 points, Anthony Robinson II had 10 points and six rebounds and Marcis Ponder also came up just shy of a double-double for the Seminoles (3-1), finishing with eight points and nine rebounds.
Florida State scored nearly half of its points at the free-throw line, making 36 of 45 shots from the charity stripe. Robinson (8 of 10) and Alex Steen (6 of 6) led that charge, while the Islanders were 9 of 17 (52.9%) at the free-throw line.
Beau Billingsley was the only player for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-2), who reached double figures before the closing minutes, finishing with 11 points in 15 minutes as he battled foul trouble. Desmond Kent Jr. tallied a team-high 13 for the Islanders, making six of eight shots.
Florida State dominated the boards with a 58-25 rebounding advantage. The Seminoles grabbed 25 on the offensive end.
It appeared the Seminoles were going to really run away with the game when they opened up a 10-0 lead 2:21 into the game. But they failed to build on that early edge, making just two field goals over a span of nearly 11 minutes after opening a 12-2 advantage.
Florida State shot 37.1% from the floor and once again struggled from outside the arc. After making just four of 21 3s (19%) in their 81-72 loss to No. 1 Florida Tuesday, the Seminoles made just two of 21 three-pointers (9.5%) Friday.
Trailing 18-7, TAMU-CC used a 7-1 run, capped by four straight points from Billingsley, to trim the deficit to five points at 19-14 with 9:02 left in the half.
It was just a 29-23 lead before the Seminoles regained control by closing the first half on a 11-5 run over the final 4:56 to take a 40-28 lead into the intermission. That carried over into the second half, which Florida State began with a 9-2 surge to push its edge to 19 points.
Leading 55-39 with 13:02 left, Florida State iced the game with a 9-2 run which included four free throws from Robinson and was finished by a pair of baskets from Rancik, pushing the lead out to 64-41.
