Florida St. 69, Virginia 67

1/23/2008 9:11 PM

By BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -Florida State's Leonard Hamilton had been waiting awhile for his 300th career coaching victory, but Toney Douglas made sure of it Wednesday - stealing one for the boss.

Douglas scored 19 points as Florida State rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to take a 69-67 victory over Virginia, but it was his ballhawking that was the difference.

Douglas, the Atlantic Coast Conference steals leader, put the Seminoles ahead 63-62 on a free throw. He then slapped the ball away from Virginia's Sean Singletary to add two more free throws after being fouled on his way for an uncontested layup.

``Toney has a knack for getting deflections,'' Hamilton said. ``He made the steals tonight without doing a whole lot of gambling.''

Douglas, who had six steals in the game, hit 7 of 11 shots from the floor and also had six rebounds.

Florida State (13-7, 2-3 ACC) led 31-28 at the half, but it didn't take long for it to evaporate.

``We can't do it the easy way,'' Hamilton chuckled as he sat down for his postgame radio show.

Virginia (11-6, 1-3) led 56-46 with 8:58 left on a Singletary layup, but Florida State caught up at 60-all on Isaiah Swann's 3-point shot from deep in the corner with 2:27 left. Douglas' layup with 1:55 to go gave the winners a 62-60 lead.

``They did a good job of turning up the energy,'' Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. ``As they got points their defense got more energized.''

Especially Douglas, who had four of his steals in the second half.

Jason Rich added 17 points and Swann 16 as coach Leonard Hamilton also notched his 100th career win at Florida State, which snapped a three-game conference losing streak.

``We've got to make up for some lost time,'' said Hamilton, who is still shooting for his first NCAA postseason invitation since taking over at Florida State six years ago.

``Most of all we've got to take care of the home court,'' Douglas said. ``And steal some on the road.''

Mamadi Diane led Virginia with 21 points, Adrian Joseph added 17 points and a game-high 8 rebounds while Singletary finished with 11 points and a game-best 7 assists.

Virginia jumped off to a 12-2 start, but Swann scored seven points in 34 seconds (a free throw following his first of two quick 3-point shots) capping a 10-0 run that tied the game at 15.

The Cavaliers shot just 41.7 percent in the game and were outscored 23-11 in the final 8:58.

``I thought fatigue played a part at the end,'' Leitao said. ``Shots that we were making earlier hit the front rim, and being half a step slower on defense cost us.''