TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Trent Forrest forced a turnover with 16 seconds left and drove the lane to hit a pull-up jumper with 5.2 seconds remaining as No. 15 Florida State stormed back to beat No. 19 Purdue 73-72 in teh ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday.
The basket was Forrest's only one of the second half, but the defensive play was part of a critical sequence as the Seminoles (6-1) held on after Purdue led by eight points with 3:43 left.
Purdue (5-2) didn't score after holding that eight-point lead. That included a pair of missed free-throw attempts by Carsen Edwards, who led the Boilermakers with 24 points on 7 of 19 shooting.
After Forrest gave Florida State the lead, he stole the ball on Purdue's final possession to seal the victory.
Ryan Cline added 21 points, including four 3-pointers after halftime, for Purdue. Cline made 7 of 11 3-pointers as Purdue stormed back from a 16-point deficit late in the first half. Cline and Edwards provided the spark in a 14-2 run and the Boilermakers made 7 of 8 3-pointers to open the half.
M.J. Walker scored 13 points to lead the Seminoles. Forest, Terance Mann, P.J. Savoy and David Nichols had nine points apiece. Mann led Florida State with eight rebounds.
Both teams battled foul trouble. Purdue starting forward Grady Eifert sat on the bench with four fouls, didn't score and played just 16 minutes. Florida State forward Mfiondu Kabengele fouled out, scoring seven points.
Florida State has won three straight games in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, knocking off Minnesota, Rutgers and Purdue in consecutive seasons.