Florida Gators
Central Florida
MBasketball Improves to 4-0 with 59-39 vs Over UCF
Friday, December 5, 2003 | Men's Basketball
The University of Florida basketball team opened the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena with a bang as they defeated the University of Central Florida 59-39 Thursday evening. It was the inaugural basketball game played in the arena.
Forward Matt Walsh led all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Anthony Roberson added 12 points and three assists. Florida shot 48.1 percent on the night and garnered 18 points off Knight turnovers.
Both teams struggled early as neither scored the first basket in the arena until UCF got on the board at the 17:26 mark after a Josh Bodden field goal. Bodden would finish the first half with 12 points as only three Golden Knights scored in the first stanza.
Florida would take their first lead 4-2 on a Matt Walsh lay in. Florida would never trail again in the game and extended their lead to as many as 17 points in the first half at 33-16 after a 11-2 run. Florida went into the half leading 35-20.
UF shot 53.6 percent (15-of-28) from the field the first 20 minutes, while Central Florida was held to 29.4 percent (10-of-34) shooting from the field. UCF held a 22-17 rebounding edge.
Florida would not allow the Golden Knights back into the game as they started the second half on a 10-0 run and had a 45-20 advantage after a Christian Drejer jumper.
UCF responded with a 11-3 run of their own. Back-to-back three pointers by Robert Ross cut the Gator lead to 48-31 with just over 12 minutes remaining.
After cutting it to 17, the Knights went scoreless for the next six minutes allowing the Gators to seal the victory.
The Gators return home to face Stetson in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center at noon on Saturday.
