AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa kept trying to give the game away.
Florida State did too, allowing Peter Jok just enough time to bury the Seminoles.
Jok scored 24 points, including a 3 with 25 seconds left in overtime, and Iowa rallied to beat Florida State 78-75 on Wednesday night to seal the Big Ten/ACC Challenge for its league.
Jarrod Uthoff added 15 with eight rebounds for the Hawkeyes (5-2), which won its third straight at home.
Florida State tied it at 71-all on a Boris Bojanovsky tip-in with 2:02 left. But Jok got free in the corner and drilled a 3 that gave Iowa a 74-72 lead.
"I’m really happy for him. He’s not afraid of the moment. He hit a big shot," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of Jok.
Malik Beasley scored 20 points for Florida State (4-2), which lost despite grabbing 19 offensive rebounds.
"I thought they got a lot of what they were looking for and made shots down the stretch," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "A lot of things were revealed that we’ll learn and grow from."
The finale of the nation’s top inter-conference series fittingly went down to the wire.
Iowa’s Mike Gesell tried to score off the dribble and found himself under the basket without help to end regulation. His desperation pass went off the back of the backboard, forcing overtime.
Uthoff’s free throws put Iowa up 76-72 with 10 seconds left in OT. But Xavier Rathan-Mayes hit an acrobatic 3 with 3 seconds left to make it 76-75.
Two more Uthoff free throws and a missed heave sealed it for the Hawkeyes.
Adam Woodbury had 11 points with 10 rebounds for Iowa.
Even though it’s still early, this was an important game for both programs. More so for the Seminoles, a young team playing their first road game.
Florida State looked like what it is right now; an extremely talented but untested group.
Iowa looked like a veteran team still trying to find itself.
The game went back and forth in the second half, with both teams struggling mightily from 3-point range. But Jok hit the 3 that mattered, helping Iowa escape with the win.
Rathan-Maye had 15 points and Bojanovsky had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
"We have the potential to be a good basketball team. But right now we’re a team that’s maturing, learning and growing," Hamilton said.
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TIP-INS
Florida State: The Seminoles had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half. …Florida State dominated the paint scoring 46-30. …Devon Bookert’s half-court shot to end regulation bounced off the back of the rim.
Iowa: Junior college transfer Dale Jones sat out the game with a knee injury that McCaffery said might be serious. …The Hawkeyes blew out then-No. 20 Wichita State 84-61 their last time out, though the Shockers have been hit hard by injuries.
PIVOTAL MOMENT
Jok, a junior with a sweet but inconsistent shooting stroke, was just 2 of 8 on 3s leading up to his big moment. But he got a relatively clean look from the corner and released a shot that looked good from the moment in left his hands.
ELITE COMPANY
Gesell became just the sixth Hawkeye with at least 400 assists. He finished with 10 points, three assists and four turnovers — including that ugly pass to end regulation — in 40 minutes. "We thought he could make a play," McCaffery said of Gesell’s late miscue.
UP NEXT
Florida State plays VCU in Atlanta.
Iowa hosts Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday.
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