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College basketball: March Madness 2005
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Right place at the right time
FLORIDA 67, OHIO 62: After the Gators blow a 20-point lead, 6-foot-1 Anthony Roberson grabs an offensive rebound for the go-ahead basket.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published March 19, 2005
NASHVILLE - His 13th-seeded Ohio Bobcats trailed fourth-seeded Florida by 20 midway through the second half, so coach Tim O'Shea figured he'd throw out a few jokes during a timeout. "I told them we've got a shot to make one of the great comebacks of the first round of the Tournament," O'Shea said. "I was just hoping, truly, that somehow we could make a run."
O'Shea was "trying to use humor to ease the stress." His players took him seriously.
Ohio outscored the Gators 25-5 during the next 9:38 and tied it at 60 with 2:14 left before Florida won 67-62 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at the Gaylord Center.
After spending 39 minutes wearing a goat-of-the-day outfit, Anthony Roberson redeemed himself with the biggest play of the game.
Tied at 60, Florida senior David Lee threw up a 16-foot air ball. The 6-foot-1 Roberson, who was standing under the basket, grabbed the rebound, scored on a layup and was fouled. He made the free throw. Then he and freshman Taurean Green combined for four free throws to seal the win.
"Air balls are really tough to rebound, and Roberson was at the right place at the right time," O'Shea said.
Pure luck, Roberson said, and he wasn't ashamed to admit it.
"In the NCAA, you have to be lucky to win some games, and we had some luck go our way," said Roberson, who was 3-of-15 from the field and 0-of-8 on 3-pointers. "In the past, we haven't had much luck go our way. But (Friday) was different. Everything happens for a reason."
Florida blew a 20-point lead with turnovers, bad shooting and poor defense. Up 55-35 on a Chris Richard layup with 11:52 remaining, Florida's possessions included 10 missed shots and six turnovers. "We were not doing a great job defending. We were fouling too much on the perimeter. We were giving up drives down the lane," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "I don't think our guys relaxed. I think our guys got careless, and that carelessness created an, "Oh my gosh, it's going to go down to the wire.'
"Us giving up 25 points over a nine-minute period, I can't recall us doing that all year long. But give Ohio University credit because they had to make the plays to do it."
Florida led 36-28 at halftime behind 13 points from Matt Walsh but just four from Roberson and Lee. The Gators then played what Donovan described as "unbelievable" defense, holding Ohio to seven points in the first eight minutes of the second half.
But then came the run. Green and Sonny Troutman hitting 3-pointers, Jeremy Fears driving to the basket for layups, the Bobcats getting to the free-throw line. For a team that mounted a 19-point comeback to win the MAC final last weekend, winning didn't seem impossible.
"We just never gave up," said Troutman, who had 13 points and five rebounds. "We've been in that situation a couple of times this year when we were down by a large deficit and pulled together as a team. We never gave up."
After Roberson's three-point play, Troutman drove to the basket being guarded by Corey Brewer. But he lost control of the ball and turned it over with 34 seconds remaining. Roberson then made two free throws.
O'Shea said the Bobcats would leave Nashville with their heads held high.
"Certainly, I'm very, very proud to come back against the SEC champs, down 20 in an NCAA Tournament game," O'Shea said. "I don't think we could have represented the Mid-American Conference any better than we did." Green scored a game-high 24 for the Bobcats. Walsh scored a team-high 18 but missed all six of his second-half shots. Overall, he and Roberson combined to shoot 6-for-28. Ohio nearly pulled off the upset with mostly starters. Its bench was outscored 15-2.
"Give those guys credit. They didn't want their season to end," said Lee, who had 14 points and eight rebounds. "We knew they were going to come back strong, and they made a push. To our team's credit, at this point in the season ,it's survive and advance. It's not how many you win by. It's just survive it, and that's what we had to do (Friday)." For Donovan, there's the hope the Gators got the first-round jitters out of their system and will perform better against Villanova, which beat New Mexico 55-47, on Sunday.
"The message has got to be, "Let it rip,"' Donovan said. "Play hard, play confidently. If you're going to lose, lose going down playing your best game. And we would have gone down (Friday) knowing we wouldn't have played well even though we were up 20.
"For 30 minutes, we played well, but it's unbelievable how quickly it can turn around."
[Last modified March 19, 2005, 01:02:12]
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