ATLANTA -- For more than 39 minutes, Florida State and Georgia Tech leaned on high-scoring guards Toney Douglas and Lewis Clinch, respectively.
With the ACC tournament quarterfinal on the line Friday in the final seconds, each team had to turn to another guard. Seminoles sophomore Derwin Kitchen delivered; Yellow Jackets freshman Iman Shumpert didn't.
Kitchen's 3-point play with 7.7 seconds left gave fourth-seeded Florida State a 64-62 win over the Yellow Jackets, whose season ended when Shumpert's last-second attempt bounced off the rim.
A relieved Douglas pounded the floor twice as Shumpert and other Georgia Tech players fell to their hands and knees in disappointment.
"He can't hang his head too low," Clinch said of Shumpert. "He's got to get prepared for his future."
Florida State (24-8) ended a streak of 11 losses in the quarterfinals while advancing to the semifinal round for the first time since 1992, its first year in the league. Douglas had 25 points for the Seminoles, who will face top-seeded North Carolina at 1:30 p.m. today in a semifinal.
"We always want to play the top team in the league and in the country," Douglas said.
The Seminoles barely survived against the worst team in the league. Georgia Tech managed two conference wins during the regular season and was the No. 12 seed in the tournament.
Clinch scored 25 points for Georgia Tech (12-19), which beat fifth-seeded Clemson on Thursday and came close to another upset. Clinch was looking for a shot at a possible game-winner.
"Oh, yeah, I wanted it at the end," Clinch said. "Unfortunately, I didn't get it, but Iman got a good shot off."
Georgia Tech led 62-61, its first lead since 2-0, on Zach Peacock's baseline shot with 29 seconds remaining.
Florida State called a timeout with 24.9 seconds left. With three Georgia Tech defenders surrounding Douglas, the Seminoles had to call another timeout with 9.9 seconds left.
"When I brought the ball upcourt, they trapped me," Douglas said. "I told my teammates to make them pay for it. ... I guess everybody knew the play was for me."
The revised plan for Kitchen was more of a surprise to Georgia Tech.
"We weren't able to make a stop on the defensive end," Shumpert said. "A lot of that's on my part, just playing the wrong way. ... Douglas was the decoy."
Said Douglas: "They wouldn't expect Kitchen. We just switched. He got the high-percentage shot. ... A lot of teams focus on me, so I look for somebody else who is open."
Kitchen took the inbounds pass from Luke Loucks on the left sideline and immediately drove the baseline. Kitchen scored and was fouled by Alade Aminu on his reverse layup, then made the free throw.
"For Luke to have confidence in me to pass the ball, that was big," Kitchen said.
Clinch and Douglas were the stars until the final minute. Douglas, from Jonesboro, south of Atlanta, was more accurate, making 11 of 16 shots. Clinch, from Cordele in south Georgia, made only nine of 23.
GEORGIA TECH (12-19)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Lawal 27 4-9 3-4 2-7 0 2 11
Peacock 18 2-5 2-2 2-3 1 2 6
Clinch 36 9-23 0-0 0-2 1 3 25
Shumpert 33 4-9 2-4 2-5 2 3 11
Miller 26 0-3 0-0 1-2 5 1 0
Foreman 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Storrs 15 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 0 2
Sheehan 5 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0
Aminu 31 2-6 3-5 1-3 2 3 7
Totals 200 21-58 12-17 14-34 12 14 62
Percentages: FG .362, FT .706.
3-point goals: 8-25, .320 (Clinch 7-18, Shumpert 1-4, Storrs 0-1, Miller 0-2).
Team rebounds: 10.
Blocks: 5 (Aminu 4, Sheehan).
Turnovers: 18 (Shumpert 4, Clinch 4, Lawal 3, Miller 3, Storrs 2, Aminu, Peacock).
Steals: 10 (Shumpert 4, Aminu 2, Storrs, Lawal, Clinch, Peacock).
FLORIDA STATE (24-8)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Echefu 22 2-8 2-2 2-5 0 1 6
Alabi 26 7-10 0-0 3-6 0 2 14
Kitchen 25 3-9 2-3 0-3 5 3 8
Douglas 39 11-16 0-1 1-1 1 1 25
Singleton 31 2-5 0-0 0-4 1 2 5
Gibson 8 2-3 0-0 1-2 0 2 4
DeMercy 11 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
Loucks 16 0-2 0-0 0-2 4 4 0
Dulkys 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 2
Hoff 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Reid 14 0-0 0-0 1-4 1 3 0
Totals 200 28-57 4-6 9-35 13 18 64
Percentages: FG .491, FT .667.
3-point goals: 4-14, .286 (Douglas 3-5, Singleton 1-2, Echefu 0-1, DeMercy 0-1, Dulkys 0-1, Loucks 0-2, Kitchen 0-2).
Team rebounds: 6.
Blocks: 7 (Singleton 5, Alabi 2).
Turnovers: 19 (Kitchen 4, Reid 4, Singleton 3, Alabi 3, Douglas 3, Gibson, Echefu).
Steals: 11 (Kitchen 3, Douglas 2, DeMercy 2, Singleton, Alabi, Loucks, Echefu).
Georgia Tech 27 35 -- 62
Florida State 33 31 -- 64
Officials--Bryan Kersey, Mike Wood, Jamie Luckie. A--26,352.
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