Florida Gators
Villanova
Fourth-Seeded Men's B-Ball Falls To Villanova In NCAA Tournament
Sunday, March 20, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Senior David Lee notched a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the fourth-seeded University of Florida Gators fell to No. 5 seed Villanova 76-65 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon at Gaylord Entertainment Center.
In his final game for Florida (24-8), Lee posted the 22nd double-double of his career as he almost helped the Gators overcome a 14-point first half deficit before eventually falling. Junior Matt Walsh had 12 points and freshman Corey Brewer added 11.
The Gators scored the first four points of the game and led 9-8 after a dunk by freshman Chris Richard at the 15:08 mark of the first half, but the Wildcats (24-7) took the lead at 10-9 on a dunk by Jason Fraser and never trailed the rest of the game.
Down by seven at the half, Florida came within one at 44-43 after a three-pointer from Walsh with 16:26 remaining, but Villanova countered with a 10-0 run during a six-minute stretch in building a 54-43 lead with 9:19 left.
The Gators came as close as eight at 62-54 with 5:40 left after a pair of free throws from Walsh, but Villanova again responded and scored five straight points to put the game away.
Fraser led the Wildcats with 21 points with Randy Foye adding 18.
