Xavier Rathan-Mayes caught fire for the Seminoles Wednesday night, scoring 30 points in the final 4:38 of regulation, and even that still wasn’t good enough to win.
Florida State came up short against the Miami Hurricanes, 81-77, after the first year guard almost single-handedly led a revival. FSU found itself in an 18-point deficit late in the game and allowed 52 points in the second half, overshadowing Rathan-Mayes’ historic performance.
Part of the late run was highlighted by 26 consecutive Florida State points without missing a shot. Overall, he drained six three-pointers and was 8-9 from the charity stripe in the closing minutes of the game, tying his career high at Florida State with 35 points.
Miami’s veteran coach Jim Larranaga couldn’t help but admire the freshman’s performance even though it almost cost the Hurricanes the win. He told ESPN, “I’ve never seen that before in my college coaching career. Outrageous. One of the greatest on-court performances I’ve ever seen.”
Miami, unlike FSU, still has hopes for an NCAA tournament bid and nearly lost a crucial conference game at the hands of the incredible run by Rathan-Mayes.
FSU’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes’ 2nd half in loss at Miami: -Scored/assisted on team’s final 38 pts -Scored 26 straight pts pic.twitter.com/W3E31jgJ1Q
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 26, 2015
Rathan-Mayes had this to say to ESPN about his late game heroics: “It’s tough to describe. You’re in an arena, but everything is quiet. My teammates kept giving me confidence, and I wanted to do everything I could to help us win the game.”
Florida State, 15-14 this season, has not had much to celebrate this season, but look out for this rising young star.