Florida Gators
Alabama
Gator men beat Bama 89-68 for 20th win
Saturday, February 24, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Matt Bonner scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Gators played without starting forward Brent Wright, who was sidelined by a foot injury.
Haslem scored 17 points as the Gators led at the half 42-38. He scored his 27th and 28th points on free throws to give Florida a 71-58 lead. The Gators' lead went to 77-58 after a pair of technical fouls on Alabama. Tide coach Mark Gottfried was ejected with 5:09 to play after picking up his second technical. Center Erwin Dudley was also hit with a technical foul. The technicals led to four Teddy Dupay free throws.
Gator coach Billy Donovan was especially pleased with the play of his reserves, who came through with Wright out of action. "Teddy (Dupay) and Brett Nelson didn't really have it going and I really thought our younger guys, Bonell Colas, Orien Green and LaDarius Halton, stepped up and played tremendously."
Colas, Green and Halton combined to score 18 points off the Gator bench. Brett Nelson had his string of double figure scoring games snapped at 14. Nelson finished with 8 points. Dupay scored 11 while Major Parker added 9.
Donovan said his team continues to display great character in adversity. "With everything we've been through, they've stuck together and remained tough," said Donovan. "These kids have always dug down a little deeper inside and I'm just really, really proud of them."
The Gators did a great job of protecting the basketball. They were guilty of just five turnovers the whole game while Alabama turned it over 17 times. In a glaring stat, the Gators scored 29 points off Tide turnovers to just two for Alabama.
Florida is now 20-5 and 10-4 in the SEC. Alabama falls to 20-7 and 8-6 in the conference. The Gators have two games remaining in the regular season. They visit Vanderbilt Wednesday night Feb. 28 at 8:00 p.m. and close out the season March 4 at home against Kentucky in a noon game carried by CBS.
