Florida Gators
Maryland
Men's Hoops Drops Heartbreaker in OT 69-68
Thursday, December 11, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Despite rallying from a 17-point deficit, the University of Florida men's basketball team was defeated by Maryland 69-68 in overtime Wednesday night at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
"I thought we left it on the floor in the second half," said head coach Billy Donovan. "They did an unbelievable job just getting the game into overtime. Nobody quit, nobody was pointing fingers. We had chanced down the stretch to win it in regulation."
Maryland (5-2) put together a 12-0 run early in the first half giving the Terapins the early advantage. They took a 39-27 lead into the half after holding Florida to only 9-of-36 from the floor.
Florida responded and improved their shooting to .417 in the second half.
The Gators also stepped up their defense held Maryland scoreless for 4:51 early in the second half, however were only able to score five points during this time to narrow the Maryland lead to 12 points.
Florida came back from a 17-point deficit in the second half on sharp-shooting by Anthony Roberson and 11 free throws as Florida outscored Maryland 26-9 beginning with 15:17 left in regulation. Christian Drejer hit three of four free throws in the final minute of regulation tie the game and end regulation in a 60-60 deadlock. The Terps only points during that span were from free throws.
Roberson led the Gators for the second game in a row with 20 points, tying his season high. He also grabbed a season-high five rebounds in a career-high 39 minutes.
A Drejer free throw with 4:25 left in the overtime period gave the Gators their first lead since the 17:43 mark in the first half.
After taking a four-point lead off a Matt Walsh fast-break dunk, Florida was unable to hold off the Terps. Maryland was able to put together 5 unanswered points at the end of overtime to hold off the Gators.
Florida travels to face No. 25 Louisville Saturday at 12 noon ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
