D.A. Layne made two free throws with just over four seconds to play to help clinch Georgia's 75- 72 win over the seventh ranked Florida Gators at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville Wednesday night.
D.A. Layne made two free throws with just over four seconds to play to help clinch Georgia's 75- 72 win over the seventh-ranked Florida Gators at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville Wednesday night. Not only did the Gators lose for the second time in three SEC games, they also lost a third player to injury. Sophomore guard Justin Hamilton tore the ACL in his left knee and may be lost for the season.
Hamilton sustained the injury attempting a shotwith over a minute to play and Florida trailing 73-72. Georgia's Ezra Williams, who scored 24 points, put the Bulldogs in front for good 73-70 with a layup after a Gator turnover with a minute and a half to play.
The Gators went on a 9-0 run to close out the first half and trailed 34-33 at the break. They made up a 10 point second half deficit and tied the game at 62-62 on a Brett Nelson basket. He finished with 20 points.
The Gators have now played three straight games decided by a combined five points. Head coach Billy Donovan said this was the way it was going to be for the rest of the season. "Our guys are battling, they're playing hard, we certainly made some mistakes down the stretch," said Donovan in his postgame radio interview. "I felt like Georgia played an outstanding game. D-A Layne and Ezra Williams, those guys stepped up and had big nights."
Donovan said he felt bad for Hamilton. "Certainly that's another tough loss. It's unfortunate that in a game like this, when you lose a close game, it puts things in perspective. Here's a young man that's going to need to go through total knee reconstruction. My heart goes out to him."
Nelson scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half and is shooting a combined 18 for 25 in his last two games. Udonis Haslem shared scoring honors with 20 points. With 1:23 remaining in the game, Halsem sunk a foul shot and became the 32nd player in Florida history to score 1,000 career points.Matt Bonner recorded his fifth double-double of the year with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
The Gators had their 13-game home winning streak halted and also lost to Georgia for the first time in five games. Florida is now 11-3 overall and 1-2 in the SEC. Georgia improved to 10-7 overall and 3-1 in the SEC. The Gators have a home game against Vanderbilt Saturday at 1 p.m. eastern time.
