College basketball

Arkansas brews OT upset of Florida

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Ronnie Brewer scored seven of his game-high 24 in overtime Saturday as Arkansas upset No.10 Florida 85-81.

Brewer hit a 3-pointer with 54 seconds to play and batted away a pass as the Gators tried to tie.

"We kept on fighting, we didn't give up and the ball just happened to bounce our way at the end of the game," Brewer said.

The win was the first against a Top 10 opponent since Stan Heath took over as coach in 2002.

"I'm just really proud of our team for not breaking" under the UF pressure, Heath said. "We may have bent a little bit, but we held strong."

The Gators closed out the first half with an 8-1 run, tying it at 31. There were 12 lead changes in the second half, with no lead greater than six.

"The second half was a back-and-forth basketball game," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "Give Arkansas credit. They made some plays and their kids played hard and I thought it was a great college basketball game that both teams had a chance to win at times."

Arkansas' Charles Townes made 1 of 2 free throws to tie it at 73, forcing overtime.

After the Gators' Al Horford and the Razorbacks' Jonathon Modica traded baskets, Corey Brewer put UF (22-4, 8-4 SEC) up 77-75.

Modica (22 points) hit a free throw and Eric Ferguson went over Lee Humphrey for a 78-77 lead with 2:15 to play.

The Gators retook the lead on a putback by Brewer after Taurean Green missed two 3s. Green scored 20, Brewer 11 and Horford had 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Arkansas (17-8, 6-6) took control when Ronnie Brewer was fouled by Joakim Noah, who fouled out with 16 points. Brewer made both free throws for an 80-79 lead.

After a UF miss, Brewer made his 3 to make it 83-79. Humphrey missed on the other end and Modica angered his coaches when he went straight for the shot instead of restarting the offense.

Horford's basket shrank it to 83-81 with 30.1 seconds to play. Brewer made a free throw with 19.7 seconds left, then knocked away a pass as the Gators moved the ball around the perimeter.

The ball went to Arkansas and Brewer drew the foul, making one shot with 4.5 seconds to go for the final score.

The officials ejected a fan late in the first half. The ball bounced to him in his front-row seat, and he hurled it back to the court, hitting an official hard in the back.

The game drew 10,702 - Walton Arena holds 18,000 - because of a snow and sleet storm.

[Last modified February 19, 2006, 01:09:21]