Colleges

You know the ending

It's a familiar story: With UF down, Horford leads a fight to the finish.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published March 24, 2007

ST. LOUIS - His teammates said all week that if the game was on the line, junior center Al Horford was the guy they wanted to take it over.

So with Friday night's NCAA Tournament game against Butler hanging in the balance, Horford granted his teammates' wish.

Tied at 54 and just under three minutes remaining, he chased down a loose ball, backed down Butler forward Brandon Crone and scored on a hook shot down low in the post, giving the Gators a 56-54 lead in the Midwest Region semifinal. Horford, who drew a foul, made the free throw to give the Gators a 57-54 lead en route to a 65-57 victory at the Edward Jones Dome. The No. 1-seeded Gators (32-6) were aided by making six free throws in the final 35 seconds.

"Initially we tried to get the ball close to the (defender), but he was able to deflect the ball, so I just caught it and I was going to kick it back out," said Horford, who had 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocks - including one with 18.7 seconds left to help seal the win. "Corey (Brewer) was kind of signaling to me, go score, go score. So I just went ahead and I was just trying to play off what they gave me. They didn't bring the double, so I just went ahead and scored."

For Florida, it was the second straight game of grind-it-out, physical play. Butler (29-7) jumped on the Gators early, taking a nine-point lead at one point.

Florida trailed 29-22 with 5:03 left, but closed out the first half with a 13-0 run to take a 35-29 lead. Guard Taurean Green hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap it. Green had a game-high 17 points and no turnovers. Florida's big men - Horford, Joakim Noah (13 points, nine rebounds) and Chris Richard - spent much of the game defending the perimeter because Butler would play five players who can shoot from outside.

"I can honestly say I think this is one off the best teams that we've played this year," UF coach Billy Donovan said. "If you look at who they played, teams in the major conferences, they beat them all."

Although Florida had a clear size advantage inside, Butler outscored the Gators 22-14 in the paint. Donovan said when facing a team as tough as Butler is defensively, there's no such thing as a size advantage.

"They don't get enough credit for their defense," he said.

Butler shot 41.7 percent from 3-point range in the first half, but was held to 2-of-7 in the second half. The Bulldogs scored just three points - one field goal and a free throw - in the final 6:10.

"Florida is the best team we've played," coach Todd Lickliter said. "And I thought we gave ourselves a chance to compete and possibly win. But they made more plays down the stretch and my hat goes off to them."

The Gators have won nine consecutive NCAA Tournament games, but the last two have been by a combined 15 points. The players said because they are the defending champion, gone are the days of beating teams by double digits in the tournament.

"This is how it's going to be now," Green said. "Teams play their best games against us. So if we have to grind it out, we'll do that. As long as we keep winning, that's fine."

FG FT Reb

BUTLER Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Ligon 21 1-2 0-0 2-2 0 3 2

Crone 28 4-9 0-0 2-4 1 5 10

Betko 25 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 5 2

Graves 38 4-13 2-3 0-3 2 2 11

Green 26 4-12 4-6 1-6 3 4 12

Veasley 3 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Nellems 12 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0

Streicher 28 1-2 4-4 3-3 0 3 6

Campbell 19 5-9 0-0 0-1 0 3 14

Totals 200 20-50 10-13 11-25 8 25 57

Percentages: FG .400, FT .769. 3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Campbell 4-6, Crone 2-3, Graves 1-6, Streicher 0-1, Green 0-3). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 0. Turnovers: 9 (Graves 3, Crone 2, Betko, Green, Ligon, Campbell). Steals: 7 (Green 3, Crone 2, Graves, Nellems). Technical Fouls: None.

FG FT Reb

FLORIDA Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts

Brewer 36 3-10 4-4 0-5 2 3 11

Noah 32 2-4 9-11 3-9 2 1 13

Horford 34 4-5 8-10 0-7 2 2 16

Green 38 5-8 2-3 0-1 1 2 17

Humphrey 32 2-5 0-0 0-0 0 4 6

Hodge 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 0

Werner 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Richard 12 1-2 0-0 2-2 1 2 2

Totals 200 17-34 23-28 6-27 9 16 65

Percentages: FG .500, FT .821. 3-Point Goals: 8-19, .421 (Green 5-8, Humphrey 2-5, Brewer 1-6). Team Rebounds: 2. Blocked Shots: 6 (Horford 4, Richard, Noah). Turnovers: 13 (Richard 3, Brewer 3, Horford 3, Humphrey 2, Noah 2). Steals: 1 (Brewer). Technical Fouls: None.

Butler 29 28 - 57

Florida 35 30 - 65

A-NA. Officials-J.D. Collins, John Cahill, Mike Littlewood.

Florida 65, Butler 57

[Last modified March 24, 2007, 00:45:57]