Gators Chomp Vandy, Remain In Semifinals
ATLANTA (CBS4) – The Gators may have been slow to start, but they were able to chomp down on Vandy, taking the win 77-66 in the Southeastern Conference semifinals Saturday.
Kenny Boynton scored 24 points, Erving Walker added 17 and No. 12.
The Gators (26-6) matched their biggest comeback of the season, overcoming a 12-point deficit early in the second half. They will meet Kentucky in the championship game Sunday.
Florida beat the Commodores (23-10) at their 3-point game. Boynton hit five shots beyond the arc, Walker made three and the Gators finished 11 of 21 overall.
Vanderbilt was just 6 of 33, and SEC leading scorer John Jenkins had a particularly tough day. Coming off a 29-point performance in the quarterfinals, he looked as though an ailing left foot was bothering him more than it did against Mississippi State. He scored just 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting.
Jeffery Taylor led the Commodores with 21 points.
The Gators trailed at halftime for the second day in a row before equaling its comeback from 12 points down against Kansas State on Dec. 18.
The Gators were down 34-29 to Tennessee in the quarterfinals, then put up a 56-point second half -- their highest-scoring period of the season.
This one was nearly as good.
Vanderbilt was up 36-28 at the break and pushed it to 40-28 in the opening minutes of the second half. Apparently, the Gators are just slow starters. Once Walker and Boynton got going, the league's regular-season champs were hard to stop.
Walker rallied Florida almost single-handedly early on, making a couple of 3s, then back-to-back jumpers from a little closer and finally a layup, banked in high off the glass, after a steal by Scottie Wilbekin. Just like that, Vandy's big lead had been whittled to 48-47.
Down the stretch, Boynton and Walker teamed up to help put away the Commodores. Boynton knocked down a pair of 3-pointers sandwiched around a nifty reverse lay-in flying off the baseline. Then Walker swished a 3 from the corner, stretching Florida's lead to 68-61 with 3:47 remaining.
Vandy called timeout. Boynton and Walker chest-bumped each other and hopped toward the bench.
The Commodores resorted to desperately flinging up 3s at the end. Jenkins was just 2 of 12 outside the arc, and the Gators had someone in his face at all times. Boynton even swatted one jumper away, which led Jenkins to plead for a foul. The official said Boynton got nothing but ball -- and it looked like he was right.
Vanderbilt was denied just its second trip to the final of the SEC tournament. The Commodores won their only appearance in 1951.
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