Florida Gators
Northeastern
Men's Hoops Downs Northeastern 101-84
Tuesday, December 23, 2003 | Men's Basketball
David Lee posted a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds and Christian Drejer added a career-high 20 points as the No. 15/13 Florida men's basketball team defeated Northeastern 101-84 Monday in front of 9,122 at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Lee's 24 points tied his career-high, and the junior was a perfect 12-for-12 from the floor. Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh also added double-digits in points with 17 and 13, respectively. As a team, Florida shot a season-high 61.8 percent from the field.
"Coming into this game, we really felt like their perimeter was very talented with [Jose Juan] Barea, Marcus Barnes and Javorie Wilson," said UF Head Coach Billy Donovan. "I thought in the first half, although Barnes had 15 of their 33, we did a pretty good job with our energy and our effort and our intensity. I thought we were flying around. Although we didn't turn them over a lot in the first half, I thought the pace of the game was great."
The Gators (7-2) began the game with a 6-0 run that saw baskets from Lee, Walsh and Roberson respectively. A Mohamed Abukar jumper put Florida up by eight at 10-2 before Lee would score eight straight for the Gators. Roberson and Rashid Al-Kaleem followed with two three-pointers to put Florida ahead by 10 at 24-14. The Huskies (5-5), however, would work their way back to within one point at 24-23 before Florida regained the momentum. With a 36-30 lead, the Gators opened an 8-0 run capped off by Lee Humphrey's three-pointer to take a 44-30 lead and led by 24 points at 57-33 at the break.
Florida's largest lead of the game came on the first bucket of the second half, as Bonell Colas' basket gave the Gators the 59-33 advantage. Northeastern would no go away, though, turning in runs of 10 and nine points to close to within nine at 71-62. Roberson stopped the Huskies' momentum with a trey, and Florida's next four field goals were three- pointers as the Gators pushed their lead to 13 at 88-75. That was the closest Northeastern would get, as Florida closed out the game with a trey from Drejer for the 101-84 win.
For the Huskies, Marcus Barnes scored a team-high 20 points, followed by Jose Juan Barea with 17. Javorie Wilson and Cornellius Wright also added double digits in points with 12 and 10, respectively.
The Gators are in action again on Dec. 27 against Eastern Kentucky at 5 p.m. at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
