Cleveland’s buzzer-beating 3 lifts Florida St. over Virginia

Florida State guard Cam'Ron Fletcher (21) moves past Virginia guard Armaan Franklin (4) during an NCAA college basketball game in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Shurtleff)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Matthew Cleveland hit a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer and Florida State beat Virginia 64-63 in a wild finish on Saturday.
Florida State hadn’t led since it made the opening bucket and trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half. Trailing 59-50 with 2:19 remaining, Cleveland scored seven points during an 11-2 surge that tied it at 61 with six seconds left. Armaan Franklin then took the ensuing inbounds pass, dribbled the floor and made a pullup jumper near the free-throw line for what looked like the game winner for Virginia with 0.4 seconds remaining.
Following a Seminole timeout, Harrison Prieto threw a strike to Cleveland, who caught the ball just past the half-court line and then tossed up the game winner that hit nothing but net.
Cleveland finished with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and was just 1 of 2 from distance. Prieto added a pair of 3-pointers and had 14 points for Florida State (15-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Jayden Gardner scored 21 points to lead Virginia (17-12, 11-8). Franklin was 3 of 6 from beyond the arc and finished with 13 points.
The Cavaliers shot 54% (13 of 24) from the field in the first half to build a 34-29 lead at the break. They opened the second on a 14-5 surge, capped by a Kadin Shedrick dunk, for a 48-37 advantage with 10:56 remaining. The Cavs shot just 28% (9 of 32) from the field and missed eight 3-point attempts in the second half.
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