WEST REGIONAL : Florida State’s Trap Snares Georgetown

Containing Alonzo Mourning wasn’t enough, so Florida State turned to its defense for offense.

Sam Casell scored 14 of his 19 points during the second half and the Seminoles rallied from an 11-point deficit with its trapping defense to beat Georgetown, 78-68, in a West Regional quarterfinal game Saturday.

“In the first half our defense worked extremely well,” said Pat Kennedy, Florida State coach. “They only had 32 points. In the second half, we said, ‘All right, guys, we have to go after them and put points on the board.’ ”

And the best way for Florida State (22-9) to score is to trap.

“That’s Florida State basketball,” said forward Doug Edwards, who had 15 points and 16 rebounds. “We’re one of the best teams in the country when we trap. In the second half, we picked it up.”

After shooting 28.1% during a first half played at a slowdown tempo, the Seminoles picked it up and shot 53.3%, outscoring Georgetown, 29-9, over the final eight minutes to reverse a 59-49 deficit.

“Eight minutes to go with a 10-point lead is not a safe period of time, particularly with this team,” Georgetown Coach John Thompson said. “When Florida State went to a three-guard alignment, it really helped them.”

Florida State fell behind, 32-23, at the half by using a diamond-and-one defense designed to stop Mourning, but could not find its rhythm at such a slow pace.

“The first half was an adjustment period for us,” Casell said. “We weren’t disorganized; we knew what we wanted to do, but we weren’t doing it.”

Mourning scored 13 of his 14 points during the second half before fouling out with 2:05 remaining.

With Seminole guards Bob Sura and Chuck Graham taking turns fronting him, Mourning scored his first point on a free throw with 1:06 remaining in the first half. Mourning’s first field goal came 33 seconds into the second half.

In the first half, Mourning missed all three of his shots and two were blocked. He finished with three rebounds and five blocked shots.

“The defense didn’t bother us too much because we were still able to build a lead,” Mourning said. “With two or three guys on me, our team was able to play off that. We got a lot of shots out of that.”

Rodney Dobard scored 12 points for Florida State, which played without starting point guard Charlie Ward, who suffered a dislocated left shoulder during a first-round victory over Montana.

Joey Brown scored 16 points and Irvine Church added 14 for Georgetown (22-10).

Trailing by 59-49 with eight minutes to play, the Seminoles outscored Georgetown, 22-5, over the next 6:53. The Seminoles took their first lead since early in the first half, 65-64, on Casell’s layin with 2:31 to play.

After Mourning fouled out, the Seminoles got two free throws from Rodney Dobard with 2:05 left and a three-pointer by Casell with 1:34 left to lead, 70-64.

The Hoyas were held to two field goals during a 7:26 span.