By Will Vandervort.

Rod Hall agreed.

Missed free throws ultimately did Clemson in during Monday’s 59-55 loss to Florida State at Littlejohn Coliseum, but the senior also noted that the Tigers were one step behind the Seminoles all night.

“It was all through the game,” Hall said. “It seemed like we were a half-step slow. We just never got ahead.”

The Tigers (10-8, 2-4 ACC) got close a few times, but each time Florida State was able to make a play to either extend its lead or hang on to it. Clemson opened the second half with two quick buckets to cut a six-point deficit to two, but Monte Brandon made a traditional three-point play to up the lead back to five, 31-26. Then Phil Cofer made a layup and Mayes connected on a jump shot to ultimately push the lead back to 10 points.

Again, the Tigers were able to close the gap, this time to three points following a Damarcus Harrison three-pointer from the top of the key, but FSU’s Devon Bookert drained a three of his own a few minutes later, Kiel Turpin dunked a shot and Bookert made two free throws to advance the lead back 10 points at 56-46 with 2:39 to play.

Clemson rallied one more time and scored nine unanswered points as Harrison drained another three, Hall made two free throws and then Jaron Blossomgame followed up a missed layup by Hall with putback that made the score 56-54 with 59 seconds left in the game.

Mayes then missed a jump shot and fouled Hall on the rebound to put the senior at the foul line with a chance to tie the game with 26 seconds to play. But Hall missed the first foul shout and made the second, allowing the Seminoles to cling to their one-point lead.

“We had a couple of guys that are decent shooters miss them,” Clemson head coach Brad Brownell said.

Clemson was just 16 of 31 from the charity stripe all night, including 8 of 17 in the second half. Hall and Harrison missed seven of 10 free throws down the stretch.

“Our inability to make free throws was problematic,” Brownell said.

But Bookert, a 90-percent foul shooter coming in, missed one of his two free throws after that setting the Tigers up with a chance to either tie win the game with 23.3 seconds to go.

Like Hall said, though, Clemson was a step behind. Hall dribbled the ball up court against a soft FSU zone, eventually getting the basketball to Harrison in the right corner. The senior, who was 2-for-6, from behind the arc, pushed the potential game-winner off the back of the iron where Jarquez Smith grabbed the rebound, outlet it to Mayes, who made the game-clinching layup with nine seconds to play.

“I’ll have to look at it again to see exactly how open he was,” Brownell said about Harrison’s game-winning attempt. “I don’t know (what happened), they went into a little soft zone. I thought we went through it okay.

“You get a pitch-ahead and the guy gets an open look or a decent look and he’s got to be aggressive. I don’t know if there was space for him to drive it. I’ll have to watch the film.”

More than likely, all Brownell will see is that his Tigers were one step behind the Seminoles.

“It came down to the mistakes and the tough plays they made,” Hall said. “We did not make enough tough plays and it showed at the end.”