Florida Pulls Away Late for 75-70 Victory

Friday, November 18

Madison Square Garden

9 pm

Syracuse University

2 K College Hoop Classic vs. winner Florida

Demetris Nichols scored a career-high 24 points against Florida.

11/19/2005 12:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEW YORK- The Florida Gators beat the Syracuse Orange, 75-70, in a highly competitive match-up in New York's Madison Square Garden for the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic championship. The game saw 15 lead changes and 11 ties.

With Syracuse ahead, 62-60, with just over six minutes left to play, the Gators pulled away for the victory when they went on a 12-0 run. The stretch was keyed by five points from Taurean Green in that time.

Demetris Nichols led the Orange with a career-high 24 points. Gerry McNamara had 13 points and 10 assists, while Terence Roberts had 12 points. McNamara represented Syracuse on the all-tournament team.

Taurean Green was Florida's top scorer for the second straight game with 23 points to go along with five assists. Corey Brewer led the team in rebounds with nine.

Both teams came out on fire, in particular, Nichols, who scored 13 of the Orange's first 19 points. Lee Humphrey also had the hot hand early, tallying nine of the Gators' first 23 points.

Florida held a slight edge over the Orange in the early going, until Eric Devendorf scored his first bucket of the game to give SU a 25-24 lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half. The lead was the Orange's first since leading 2-0 in the opening minute of play. Florida was quick to regain its advantage, however when Green hit a three pointer about a minute later to put the Gators on top, 27-25.

Florida took the lead late in the half when Chris Richard slammed the ball off a missed Walter Hodge lay-up to pull ahead by five, the largest lead of the half by either team.

The Orange was quick to respond when Terence Roberts dunked to pull the Orange back within three. After a Louie McCroskey free throw made the score 41-39 in favor of Florida, Nichols threw down a dunk of his own off a McCroskey assist to tie the game, 41-41, with just over one minute remaining in the half. Nichols capped off his stellar half of basketball when he hit his fourth three pointer of the half to open up a 44-41 lead with 30 seconds left to play before intermission.

Brewer hit a jumper in the final seconds of the half to cut into the Syracuse lead as the Orange held a 44-43 lead at the half, a half that saw 11 lead changes in the first session. The Orange has not trailed at the half yet this season.

Nichols led all scorers at the half with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, 4-5 from three-point land. McNamara had seven points and six assists. Florida was led by Green with 13 points in the first half, while Humphrey had 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

In the second half, Florida went on an 11-0 run early to open up a 56-47 advantage. Joakim Noah was 4-4 from the free throw line during that stretch, while Green hit an open three pointer with just over 16 minutes remaining.

Roberts helped SU end the Gators' run and start one of its own when he tipped in a missed shot by McNamara. McNamara hit a three pointer on the next trip down the court to cut the Florida lead to 56-52. Devendorf drove the lane and lofted in a jumper and Roberts hit from 15-feet to open up a 9-0 SU run to tie the game 56-56 with just less than 11 minutes left to play.

The Gators regrouped and put together a 12-0 run behind five points from Green to open up a 72-62 lead with under two minutes to play. Free throws would be the decider from there, as Florida closed out the 75-70 victory.

Florida improves to 4-0 with the win, while the Orange drops to 3-1. SU will next be in action on Tuesday when it welcomes Bucknell to the Carrier Dome at 7 p.m.