SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Florida and Walter Clayton Jr. in some way overcame Houston’s spirit-crushing protection Monday night time to will out a 65-63 victory in an NCAA title-game thriller not determined till Clayton’s personal D stopped the Cougars from taking a game-winning shot on the buzzer.
Clayton completed with 11 factors, all within the second half, however what he’ll be remembered for many was getting Houston’s Emanuel Sharp to stop in the middle of his motion as he tried to go up for the game-winning 3 within the remaining seconds.
Clayton ran at him, Sharp dropped the ball and, unable to choose it up lest he get referred to as for touring, watched it bounce there whereas the clock ticked to zero.
Will Richard had 18 factors to maintain the Gators (36-4) in it, and so they gained their third general title and first since 2007, this time led by third-year coach Todd Golden. The Cougars (35-5) and coach Kelvin Sampson have been denied their first championship.
This was a defensive brawl, and for a lot of the night time, Clayton obtained the worst of it.
He was 0 for 4 from the sphere with no level by way of the primary half. He didn’t rating till 14:57 remained within the recreation. He completed with one 3-pointer and, earlier than that, a pair of three-point performs that stored the Gators in putting vary.
It was Florida’s protection, not Houston’s, that managed the ultimate minute.
After Alijah Martin made two free throws to place Florida forward 64-63 — its first lead since 8-6 — the Gators lured Sharp right into a triple-team within the nook, the place Richard obtained him to dribble the ball off his leg and out of bounds.
Florida made one free throw on the following possession and that arrange the finale. The ball first went to L.J. Cryer — who led the Cougars with 19 factors. Blanketed by Richard, he threw to Sharp, who was transferring to identify up for a 3 when Clayton ran at him. That left him with no selection however to let the ball go.
Sampson, who designed a protection that held Florida underneath 70 factors for less than the second time this season, regarded on in shock.
As an alternative of the 69-year-old changing into the oldest coach to win the title, the 39-year-old Golden turns into the youngest since N.C. State’s Jim Valvano in 1983 to win all of it.
The Gators trailed by 12 factors early within the second half, and Clayton wasn’t the one one getting pissed off.
The Florida bench obtained a technical throughout a fast span of three foul calls in lower than a minute. Later within the second half, Houston’s smothering protection baited Rueben Chinyelu right into a technical after committing a foul.
However that wasn’t sufficient. Houston finally ends up on the similar place because the Phi Slama Jama groups of the Eighties — in second place, however memorable.
This gut-wrenching loss got here two nights after the Cougars fashioned a wild comeback of their very own, from 14 down in opposition to Duke.
All three Last 4 video games have been determined down the stretch, none by greater than six. Any thought that the lads’s recreation had been overtaken by the more and more common ladies will in all probability go on maintain at the very least for a yr.
The three ladies’s Last 4 video games, capped by UConn’s blowout of South Carolina on Sunday, have been determined by a median of 24.7 factors.
