TUSCALOOSA, AL — Erving Walker gave the Gators the game-winning shot on a runner in the lane with 11 seconds left and Alex Tyus and Dan Werner came up with the defensive plays of the game in the final seconds to give the Florida Gators a critical 66-65 Southeastern Conference win over Alabama at Coleman Coliseum Thursday night.
With the win, the Gators (16-6 overall) improved to 5-3 at the midpoint of the SEC season and kept them within two games of Eastern Division leaders Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Alabama (13-9 overall) dropped to 3-5 in the SEC West. Florida returns to action at 1:30 Saturday afternoon at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center against Mississippi State. Alabama will travel to Oxford Saturday night to face Ole Miss.
Walker, who had missed his previous two shots, showed no fear as he got into the paint with the big guys and tossed up a high arcing shot that gave the Gators a 66-65 lead but that left the Gators in need of a defensive stop. There was no question Alabama was going to go to Mikhail Torrance, who had a game-high 22 points, but his shot with four seconds remaining was deflected out of bounds by Alex Tyus. Following two time outs to set their final play with 3.5 seconds left, the Crimson Tide tried to inbounds the ball to 6-9 JaMychal Green but Werner timed his jump perfectly and spiked the ball all the way to the Florida backcourt. By the time Alabama’s Anthony Brock retrieved the ball, it was too late and Florida had a hard-earned win.
Florida trailed 37-33 at the half and by as many as six (46-40) in the first seven minutes of the second half but Florida got its offensive game in gear behind the shooting of Walker and freshman Kenny Boynton. Their back-to-back threes tied the game, 46-46, with 12:22 left and Walker gave the Gators a 48-40 lead when he hit a pull-up shot in the lane with 11:48 to go.
Alabama battled back to take a 54-53 lead with 6:43 left on a free throw by Torrance but Florida got a three-ball by Boynton to regain the lead with 5:56 to go to make it 56-54. After a pair of free throws by Brock, Florida scored four straight points on a free throw by Chandler Parsons and a layup and free throw by Tyus with 4:34 to go to put the Gators ahead 60-56.
Boynton stretched the lead to six at 62-56 when he got a steal on the wing and converted it into a layup at the other end with 3:25 to go but the Gators got out of synch offensively and came up empty on consecutive possessions while Alabama scored four straight to cut the lead to 62-60. Walker responded with a driving layup under the outstretched arms of 6-10 Justin Knox with 2:01 remaining to give the Gators a four-point cushion. Chandler Parsons forced a Bama turnover to give the Gators possession and a chance to go back ahead by six, but Brock got a steal and was fouled as he hit a layup. When he converted the free throw with 1:09 left it cut Florida’s lead to 64-63.
Walker missed a jumper with 56 seconds left and Torrance made the Gators pay at the other end with a short jumper that gave Alabama a 65-64 lead with 44 seconds left. Walker tried to put the Gators ahead with 22 seconds left, but his high bank shot caromed off the glass without touching the rim. Boynton outhustled everyone for the offensive rebound to keep Florida’s chances alive.
Following a timeout with 17.4 seconds, the Gators got the ball inbounds to Walker who blew by the Alabama guards and got in the lane for his game-winning shot.
Walker, who finished the game with 16 points, scored 14 in the second half when the Gators battled back from a 37-33 deficit. Tyus led the Gators with 19 points and seven rebounds while Boynton finished the game with 15.
Although Alabama outshot the Gators from the free throw line (12-18 to Florida’s 5-8) and the three-point line (Alabama was 9-21 while Florida was 7-18), the Gators won the battle on the inside, outscoring Alabama 34-24 in the paint and outrebounding the Crimson Tide, 35-24.
The Gators shot 50 percent from the field (27-54).
Although the Gators dominated on the inside in the first half, they couldn’t contain the Crimson Tide from the three-point line. Alabama hit 7-14 from the three-point line with Mikhail Torrance leading the way with a 4-7 effort. Torrance lit up the Gators for 14 first half points. Alabama managed to hit only 2-9 from the three-point line in the second half.
It was a barrage of four straight three-pointers triggered by Torrance that took Alabama from a 22-20 deficit to a 32-24 lead with 6:43 remaining. Torrance hit three straight to lead the charge, but the Gators clamped down defensively and fought their way back within one, 34-33, on a thee-pointer by Kenny Boynton in transition with 1:55 remaining.
During that 9-2 Florida run that got the Gators back in the game, Alabama shot only 1-10 from the field. The Gators had a chance to take the halftime lead but after Boynton missed a three-pointer, Alabama got a three in transition from Tony Mitchell with one second remaining to give the Crimson Tide their four-point cushion at the half.
GAME NOTES: It was the 13th straight game in double figures for Tyus, who hit 8-10 from the field … Walker was 2-4 on three-pointers. In SEC play, he is 26-49 (53 percent) … Florida has won 15 of the last 18 games with Alabama … The Gators are 4-3 this season in games decided by three or fewer points … Boynton rebounded from one of his worst games as a Gator (only four points against Tennessee) with a strong 15-point effort. Boynton also had six rebounds, two assists and two steals … Parsons hit his first two threes of the game and finished with eight points, five rebounds an assist and a blocked shot.