Gator Country

Florida redshirt junior center Vernon Macklin shoots over a defender during the Gators 76-64 loss to Xavier on Saturday at the O'Connell Center. / Gator Country photo by Casey Brooke Lawson

Junior forward Vernon Macklin notched his first career double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, but the Gators’ efforts fell short to Xavier, 76-64, Saturday at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Florida (17-8) was led in scoring by junior forward Chandler Parsons, who contributed 15 points. Freshman guard Kenny Boynton and sophomore guard Erving Walker chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Florida fell behind 38-22 with 3:52 left in the first half but rallied to tie the game at 47-47 with 13:03 left.

The teams swapped the lead four times before Xavier (17-7) went ahead 54-52 with 9:20 to play on a Ken Frease jumper. From there, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford hit a three-pointer to start a scoring spree.

Crawford scored 12 of his points in the second half. Most of his points came after the Gators had fought back from a 16-point deficit in the first half.

Xavier’s Jason Love scored 20 points, Crawford added 18 and Frease had 12. Jamel McLean led the Musketeers with 13 rebounds.

Photo Gallery: UF Men’s Basketball vs. Xavior, 2/13/10 (click here to view gallery)

DIRECTORY OF GATOR COUNTRY PHOTO GALLERIES

About the author

jumper42

Casey Brooke Lawson earned a B.S. in journalism from the University of Florida in December 2008. Lawson was born in Sarasota, Fla., but now still resides in Gainesville, Fla. Lawson picked up her first camera before she could walk, and now, 24 years later, she has made a career of her first love. She has been working as a photojournalist for eight years. She began at her high school, Sarasota High School, interned with the Gainesville Sun, Sarasota Herald Tribune, The Independent Florida Alligator and Sports Illustrated. Now, Lawson is a regularly contributing photojournalist for Gator Country. Trained in sports photography by Gator Country's own Tim Casey, sports photojournalism has become one of Lawson's favorite parts of her job.

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