Florida State continued its solid start to the season on Sunday by recording a 76-71 victory against VCU in Atlanta on Sunday, despite a monster game from Rams guard Melvin Johnson.

Seminoles guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes led the way with 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals - but no swipe was bigger than the one he had in the final seconds against Johnson that led to a dunk. That gave Florida State a 74-71 lead and the Seminoles (5-2) wouldn't give back.

Johnson led all scorers with a career-high 36 points, including eight 3-pointers. He nearly brought the Rams back from a 40-29 halftime hole, but it wasn't quite enough as VCU fell to 5-3.

The dynamic freshman duo of Dwayne Bacon and Malik Beasley - who early on have paced Florida State's offense, which is the highest scoring among ACC teams with an average of 88.7 points per game - combined for just 18 points against the Rams' stingy defense. VCU held Florida State to 46 percent shooting from the floor.

Beasley, with 10 points, was the only other Seminoles' player to reach double figures. Florida State 7-foot-3 center Boris Bojanovsky added six points, seven rebounds, five blocks and two steals.

The Rams led 60-59 with just over five minutes left in the game but quickly gave it back. Guard Korey Billbury had 13 points and forward Mo Alie-Cox added 10 points and six rebounds.

The victory for Florida State at Atlanta's Philips Arena brought back good memories for the program, which last played in the building in 2012 when it won the ACC Championship. The win was also Florida State's eighth overall in the city of Atlanta dating back to 2012, including three straight victories against Georgia Tech.