Florida Gators
Michigan State
Florida men hold off Michigan State 74-70
Thursday, December 6, 2001 | Men's Basketball
The Gators (5-1) used a 9-1 run while starting center Udonis Haslem was on the bench with two fouls to take a 44-30 halftime lead. Michigan State (4-3) chipped away at the lead with six points to start the second half, but the Gators used an 11-0 run to go up 55-36 and had a 20 point lead with 3:49 to play.
Bonner, who developed a cramp in his left leg with 8:31 left in the game, had 22 points before hitting a free throw on the front end of a 1-and-1 with :54 to play for his 23rd point. That put the Gators up by 11 points, 72-61, but thanks to a pair of three-pointers by Kelvin Tolbert and one by Marcus Taylor, the Spartans trimmed the Gator lead to 72-67 with 27 seconds left on the clock. Chris Hill made a trey with :18 to play to make it a four point game, but Michigan State was unable to get any closer in the final seconds.
"For 36 minutes, I thought our guys played great basketball," said Gator coach Billy Donovan. "But in the last four minutes of the game, I thought we played like the game was over with and we lacked intensity and focus coming down the stretch."
Once again, Donovan was not pleased with the way his players defended the three-point shot.
"We continue to learn valuable lessons about the three-point line," Donovan said. "They made it very interesting and shooting pressure free. All of a sudden they're making three's and we miss free throws."
The Gators shot 9-of-14 from the line in the second half. Udonis Haslem sank a pair with :26 to play that put the Gators ahead 74-67. The Gators didn't have their best free-throw shooter in the game for the final 1:17. Guard Brett Nelson fouled out of the game after scoring 15 points. He was just 6-of-18 from the floor.
Bonner also grabbed 10 rebounds to go with his game-high 23 points. It was the 11th double-double of his Gator career. Haslem and David Lee finished with eight points apiece. Justin Hamilton scored seven points.
Marcus Taylor led the Spartans with 17 points. Kelvin Tolbert finished with 15.
Florida will visit South Florida at the Sun Dome in Tampa Saturday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m. ET.
