Gators turn back Tide

UF 68, NO.20 'BAMA 62: David Lee took over at the end to lead the Gators to a title bout with Kentucky.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published March 13, 2005

ATLANTA - With his team trailing by one and Alabama on a 16-8 scoring run, Florida forward David Lee knew he couldn't let things completely fall apart. It just wasn't the way he wanted to go out.

He is a senior. He knows what it's like to play in an SEC tournament championship game. He wanted to experience it one more time.

So he decided he had to take over for the Gators.

Lee scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in the final 11 minutes of the game to help Florida defeat Alabama 68-62 Saturday afternoon at the Georgia Dome.

"My teammates and coaching staff know how much I want to win, that's my main goal," Lee said. "Being a senior and being one of the captains, I just wanted to will our team to victory. The biggest thing was I didn't want this to be my last SEC game. I remember how much fun the finals were last year. We didn't have the result we wanted, but I really wanted the younger guys to be able to experience that this year and so I really started to be aggressive. I didn't know if all my shots were going to go in or not, but I tried to make plays happen. As long as they were going 1-on-1 in the post, I tried to take advantage of that."

Florida (22-7) will play Kentucky today at 1 p.m. in a rematch of last year's SEC championship game and of last Sunday's game which Florida won in Gainesville. It's the first time in school history that the Gators have advanced to the championship game in consecutive seasons.

This is only the Gators' fifth championship game appearance; they have never won a title.

"It's exciting to be back here, I'm happy for our kids," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "I realize (today) we're playing against another very physical, big, strong team. We'll find out what's left in our tank and go out there and play the best of our ability. It's exciting to be able to play on Sunday in this league. There's only going to be two teams playing of the 12 and we feel excited and fortunate to be one of the two."

For a while, it looked as if Florida planned to let Alabama (24-7) play today. The Gators shot 6-of-8 from the field in the first six minutes and led by as many as 10 with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half.

But by halftime, the Gators had shot just 37 percent from the field, and despite leading 27-20, scored just two field goals in the final 8:42 of the half.

Florida went scoreless for 7:33, late in the first half into the early second half. During that time, Alabama rallied and tied the game at 27, then freshman center Al Horford hit one of two free throws to end Florida's drought and give the Gators a 28-27 lead with 16:25 left in the second half. Guards Matt Walsh and Anthony Roberson were 4-for-13 in the first half. Florida made six of its first nine 3-point shots, then went 2-of-11 the rest of the game.

"Early on, we were trying to get the ball inside to David and they were doubling the post so me, (Anthony) and Lee Humphrey in the first half were getting a lot of open looks," guard Matt Walsh said. "Later in the game they were playing 1-on-1 so we ran a lot of stuff to get David the ball. Me and (Anthony) didn't make some shots we normally make, but I don't think any of us are worried about that."

While its offense struggled, its defense kept the Gators in the game. Florida held Alabama to 38 percent shooting from the field and 3-of-19 from 3-point range.

"We made a very, very big effort to take away the 3-point line and to stay up in them," Donovan said.

Shelton, the senior guard who had a tournament single game-tying eight 3-pointers on Friday, was 0-for-4 from beyond the arc and had just six points.

"This was a tough loss for us," Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "Give Florida a lot of credit. They stepped up and made key plays at key times. We couldn't get baskets today. We are a good 3-point shooting team, but we just couldn't find it today."

Alabama forward Kennedy Winston scored 17 of his team-high 19 in the second half. Florida was outrebounded 43-33, which Donovan said caused him some concern, and was 14-of-20 from the free-throw line. Roberson finished the game with 13 points, Walsh scored 17 and freshman Corey Brewer added 10.

[Last modified March 14, 2005, 01:28:20]