Florida Gators
Kentucky
Men's Basketball Outlasts Kentucky In Overtime, 81-70
Sunday, January 20, 2008 | Men's Basketball
The Gators (16-3, 3-1 SEC) stretched their winning streak to seven games over the Wildcats, who fell to 7-9 overall and 1-2 in conference play. Kentucky has not defeated Florida since Feb. 8, 2005 at Rupp Arena.
Sophomore center Marreese Speights (St. Petersburg, Fla.) poured in 20 points and junior guard Walter Hodge (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) added 10 highlighted by a clutch three-pointer with 0:58 remaining in the extra frame.
Kentucky held a 65-63 lead in overtime before Calathes buried his only 3- pointer of the night at the 3:11 mark. The Wildcats regained a 67-66 advantage when senior guard Ramel Bradley scored on a breakaway layup.
Speights then gave the Gators a 70-68 lead with 1:22 left on a jumper in the lane, and Hodge put the game away with a clutch base line 3-pointer to stretch the advantage to 73-68 with 0:58 remaining.
Calathes, who added eight boards and eight assists, responded with eight free throws in the final 43 seconds.
Florida held as much as a 12-point lead during the second half, but the Wildcats chipped away at it midway through the period. Sophomore Jodie Meeks erased the deficit with a pair of free throws at the 9:08 mark in the second half to knot the game at 46 apiece.
The Gators missed some crucial opportunities at the charity stripe late, which allowed Kentucky to stay in the contest. Speights gave Florida a 60- 56 lead on a dunk with 0:18 left in the second half.
After Bradley knocked down a pair of free throws, freshman guard Jai Lucas (Bellaire, Texas) connected on one of two foul shots to give the Wildcats one last tying attempt in the final possession.
UK senior Joe Crawford missed a 3-pointer to tie with 5.8 seconds left, but officials overturned an initial call that gave Florida the ball. Bradley then buried a 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds to play to send the contest into overtime.
Florida finished the game shooting 48 percent to Kentucky's 41 percent, while both teams combined for 29 turnovers.
The Gators trailed late in the first half but forced the Wildcats to several miscues in the waning minutes of the period. Florida finished the half with a 14-6 run to take a 30-25 lead into the locker room.
The 12,222 in attendance wrapped up a festive day on the campus that featured ESPN's College Gameday, marking the third straight time the two rivals were featured in conjunction with the program.
Florida returns to action on Wednesday as they travel to South Carolina in an 8 p.m. game televised by Raycom affiliates.
