RALEIGH, N.C. — The gang that can’t shoot straight got a three-pointer for the ages Sunday afternoon when Chandler Parsons launched a 70-footer at the buzzer that hit nothing but the bottom of the net to give the Florida Gators a most improbable 62-61 overtime win over North Carolina State.
Trailing 61-59 with 2.6 seconds to go, the Wolfpack’s Farnold Degand missed the second of two free throws. Parsons swooped across the lane to snag the rebound, took a couple of dribbles up the court and then let loose with the longest buzzer beater of the Billy Donovan era at Florida. Prior to Parsons’ unlikely game-winner, the Gators had hit 2-23 from the three-point line.
To see the shot, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjol94vuwHY
While Florida (11-3) rarely found the range from beyond the arc, the Wolfpack had their problems from the foul line in overtime. North Carolina State hit 10-19 free throws in the game but only 6-11 in overtime when the Gators were forced to foul.
Florida held a 48-45 lead with 2:47 remaining only to see its chances to win the game in regulation slip away. North Carolina State got within a point when Dennis Horner hit 1-2 from the foul line with 1:19 left and tied the game at 48-48 when Javier Gonzalez flew down the lane to tip in a missed shot by Horner with 26 seconds remaining. Florida had the last shot to win the game but Erving Walker’s three-pointer with two seconds left bounced high off the rim.
In the overtime, Gonzalez scored the first five points to stake North Carolina State (10-4) to a 53-48 lead with 3:55 left. After a layup by Dan Werner with 2:37 left, Tracy Smith scored on a twisting layup in the lane and hit the second of two free throws to give the Wolfpack a six-point cushion (56-50) with 1:16 left in the game.
Alex Tyus hit an eight-footer from the right baseline to make it a four-point game with 1:03 left but North Carolina blew opportunities to extend the lead from the foul line. Degand missed the front end of a one-and-one with 38 seconds left and Gonzalez hit the first but missed the second free throw with 22.4 seconds remaining. That made it 57-52 and North Carolina State should have felt comfortable except the Gators kept fouling to extend the game.
Kenny Boynton broke an 0-6 night from beyond the arc with a highly contested three from the top of the key with 13.2 seconds remaining to bring the Gators back to within two, 57-55. On the inbounds play, the Gators fouled and the usually reliable Horner, a 79.5 percent foul shooter coming into the game, made only one of two to make it 58-55 with 11.2 seconds left.
North Carolina State wasn’t about to let the Gators shoot threes and was willing to trade for foul shots. Once the Gators got the ball across the midcourt line, the Wolfpack fouled Walker, who converted both free throws to close the gap to 58-57 with eight seconds left.
Gonzalez was fouled on the inbounds pass but this time he delivered at the charity stripe, knocking down both shots with 6.5 seconds left to make it 60-57. Again, the Wolfpack fouled rather than let the Gators launch a three. Walker went to the line with 3.3 seconds left and knocked down the first free throws. He deliberately tried to miss the second shot but it banked in, bringing the Gators back to a one point deficit (60-59) and forcing another foul that sent Degand to the line with a chance to extend North Carolina State’s lead to three points.
Degand made the first shot, but missed the second, setting up Parsons for the game-winner.
This was another head-scratcher of a game for the Gators, who shot only 37.7 percent for the game (26-69) and only 12.5 percent on three-pointers. Meanwhile, North Carolina State hit 40 percent from the field (22-55) and 31.8 percent (7-22) on three-pointers, which would have been good enough to win the game except the Wolfpack couldn’t deliver from the foul line.
Florida twice trailed by eight points in the first half when Smith was practically unstoppable. The 6-8 junior power forward, who finished the game with 21 points and nine rebounds, scored 14 in the first half as North Carolina State built up leads of 23-15 and then 29-21 with 2:16 left before the break.
Florida scored the final six points of the half to cut the gap to 29-27 on a floater in the lane by Werner, a pair of free throws by Parsons and a short jumper in the lane by Walker with 1.3 seconds to go.
The Gators outscored the Wolfpack, 10-4, I the first seven minutes of the second half to go ahead 37-34. When Walker hit Florida’s first three of the game with 8:46 left, it broke an 0-13 streak from beyond the arc and gave the Gators a 44-40 lead. A short jumper by Smith and a long three by Scott Wood propelled the Wolfpack back in front at 45-44 with 7:58 left. Florida regained the lead on a dunk by Vernon Macklin with 7:34 left and the Gators extended the lead to 48-45 when Tyus followed up a miss with 2:47 to go.
Macklin led the Gators with 14 points and five rebounds while Walker, who was 1-7 on threes, finished with 13 points, three rebounds six assists and four steals. Tyus had 11 points and five rebounds while Parsons came off the bench to give the Gators five points, six rebounds three assists and three steals.
The Gators are off until next Saturday when the travel to Vanderbilt for their first Southeastern Conference game. Kentucky comes to town Tuesday night, January 12.
FLORIDA 62, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 61 (OT)
At Raleigh, N.C., RBC Center
FLORIDA (62) – Kenny Boynton 3-13 0-0 7, Erving Walker 4-14 4-6 13, Dan Werber 3-9 0-0 6, Alex Tyus 5-11 1-2 11, Vernon Macklin 7-10 0-0 14, Ray Shipman 1-4 0-0 2, Kyle McClanahan 0-0 0-0 0, Chandler Parsons 1-5 2-2 5, Erik Murphy 2-3 0-0 4. TOTALS 26-69 7-10 62.
Field-goal shooting: 26 of 69 for 37.7 percent. 3-point shooting: 3 of 24 for 12.5 percent (Parsons 1-4, Boynton 1-7, Walker 1-7, Shipman 0-1, Tyus 0-1, Werner 0-4). Free-throw shooting: 7 of 10 for 70 percent. Rebounds: 41 (Tyus 7, Parsons 6, Boynton 6). Assists: 12 (Walker 6, Parsons 3). Blocked shots: 2 (Tyus, Macklin 1). Steals: 12 (Walker 4, Parsons 3). Turnovers: 9 (Walker 2, Tyus 2, Parsons 2). Total fouls (fouled out): 16 (none). Record: 11-3.
NORTH CAROLINA STATE (61) – Javier Gonzalez 4-9 3-4 13, Scott Wood 4-10 0-0 12, C.J. Williams 1-3 0-0 2, Tracy Smith 9-16 3-5 21, Dennis Horner 1-7 3-5 5, Richard Howell 0-2 0-0 0, Farnold Degand 2-4 1-5 6, Jordan Vandenberg 1-1 0-0 2, Josh Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Julius Mays 0-3 0-0 0. TOTALS 22-55 10-19 61.
Field-goal shooting: 22 of 55 for 40 percent. 3-point shooting: 7 of 22 for 31.8 percent (Gonzalez 3-4, Smith 3-5, Horner 3-5, Degand 1-5). Free-throw shooting: 10 of 19 for 52.6 percent. Rebounds: 41 (Smith 9, Horner 7). Assists: 14 (Degand 4, Horner 3, Mays 3). Blocked shots: 3 (Gonzalez, Williams, Smith). Steals: 7 (Mays 2). Turnovers: 14 (Gonzalez 6). Total fouls (fouled out): 15 (none). Record: 10-4.
Halftime: North Carolina State 29, Florida 27. Regulation: Florida 48, North Carolina State 48. Officials: Gary Maxwell, Tony Greene, Roger Ayers. A—17,207.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
For the latest standings, click below:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/conferences/standings?confID=23
Monday, Jan. 4
Alabama at Toledo, 7 p.m.
McNeese State at Louisiana State, 8 p.m.
Mississippi State at Western Kentucky, 9 p.m.
Middle Tennessee State at Vanderbilt, 9 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 5
Texas at Arkansas, 7 p.m.
Georgia Tech at Georgia, 7 p.m.
Longwood at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
UCF at Mississippi, 8 p.m.
West Georgia at Auburn, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 6
Charlotte at Tennessee, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 9
Florida at Vanderbilt, 12 p.m.
Mississippi State at Mississippi, 1:30 p.m.
South Carolina at Auburn, 1:30 p.m.
Georgia at Kentucky, 4 p.m.
Alabama at Louisiana State, 5 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 10
Kansas at Tennessee, 1:30 p.m.