SAN ANTONIO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – All-America guard Walter Clayton Jr. scored 11 points in the final 15 minutes and made the game’s biggest defensive play with four seconds left as the University of Florida rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to edge Houston, 65-63, in the NCAA championship game Monday night in San Antonio.
Florida’s Will Richard put up 18 points and Alex Condon added 12 as the Gators earned their first national championship since Coach Billy Donovan’s teams won back-to-back championships in 2006 and ’07. Florida led for just 17 seconds before seizing its first second-half lead on Alijah Martin’s two free throws with 46.5 seconds to play.
The Gators (36-4) tied the 1998 Kentucky Wildcats for the third-largest rally in NCAA championship annals. Florida’s Todd Golden, 39, became the youngest coach to win an NCAA title since 37-year-old Jim Valvano and North Carolina State stunned Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston with Lorenzo Charles’ last-second dunk in 1983.
Houston (35-5) fell to 0-3 in national championship sgame despite a game-high 19 points from LJ Cryer. The Cougars had the ball for the final shot and Emanuel Sharp went up for a 3-point attempt with four seconds left, but Clayton flew out at him and Sharp had to drop the ball to the floor to avoid a traveling violation.
Condon dove on the floor to secure the ball and the rest of the Gators started celebrating as the clock hit zero for an improbable victory that looked impossible early in the second half.
After Florida was whistled for its fifth foul of the second half with 17:21 to play — including back-to-back offensive fouls before the Gators could take a shot — Florida’s assistant coaches jumped on the court and were whistled for a technical.
Cryer canned one of the technical free throws, then took the inbounds pass in the corner and swished a 3-pointer to push the lead to 40-30. Houston’s J’Wan Roberts soon followed with a jump hook in the lane to put the Gators behind by 12.
Clayton, who scored a career-high 34 points to guide Florida over Auburn in the semifinals on Saturday, missed his first six shots and committed three turnovers before finally getting on the board with 14:57 to play in the second half when he hit two free throws.
The Gators rallied in the second half behind a 14-3 run. When Clayton drove for a lefty layup — his first field goal of the night — and hit the accompanying free throw, Florida pulled even 48-48 with 7:54 to play.
Neither team could build more than a 3-point lead the rest of the way.
After Martin’s two free throws gave the Gators a 64-63 edge with 46.5 seconds to go, Richard stripped Sharp on a drive. Florida’s Denzel Aberdeen added a free throw to make it a two-point game with 19.7 seconds to go, then Houston called its last timeout to set up the unsuccessful final play.
The Cougars led 31-28 at halftime thanks to seven points from Mylik Wilson.
–Field Level Media