Florida Gators
High Point
Speights Powers Men's Basketball Past High Point, 88-70
Thursday, January 3, 2008 | Men's Basketball
The 6-foot-10 Speights made the most of his height advantage, getting the majority of his points in the paint and controlling the offensive glass with five caroms. He connected on 10-of-14 shot attempts from the floor and used an array of post moves to get his way to the basket at will.
Speights' rebounding numbers translated into a 41-27 advantage on the boards against High Point and led to 21 second-chance points.
Freshman guard Nick Calathes (Winter Park, Fla.) added 15 points and six assists for the Gators (13-2) and sophomore forward Jonathan Mitchell (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) chipped in 12 points.
Mitchell hit a variety of mid-range jumpshots, connected on two three- point shots and provided a defensive spark off the bench.
The Panthers trailed 50-34 at halftime, but cut the lead to seven twice in the second half, the last one at 61-54 with about 12 minutes to play.
Speights regained the Florida momentum with a dunk, a short turnaround shot in the post and then made two free throws to push the lead to 75-58. The Gators kept the lead the rest of the way.
UF put together an 8-0 run early in the first half to create some cushion with three-pointers from freshman forward Chandler Parsons (Winter Park, Fla.) and junior guard Walter Hodge (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) . Freshman forward Alex Tyus (St. Louis, Mo.) mixed in an emphatic two-handed dunk within the run and also contributed three blocked shots on the defensive end during the game.
Arizona Reid led High Point with 22 points and nine rebounds.
High Point was 9-of-21 from 3-point range and shot 40 percent from the field. The Gators made 10 treys and shot 54 percent from the floor.
Florida committed a season-low six turnovers and was countered by 23 assists with Hodge leading the way with seven.
The game was Florida's final tune-up before beginning Southeastern Conference play next Tuesday against Alabama at 9 p.m. in Tuscaloosa.
