Florida Gators
Jacksonville
UF Improves to 8-0 With 85-67 Win Over Dolphins
Saturday, December 5, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Sophomore Erving Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored 18 points, freshman Kenny Boynton (Pompano Beach, Fla.) added 15 and No. 13/17 Florida used 12 3-pointers to beat Jacksonville 85-67 on Friday night.
The Gators won their ninth straight in the series and improved to 8-0 for just the third time in school history. Florida started 17-0 in 2005-06, the year coach Billy Donovan's program won the first of consecutive national championships.
Junior Vernon Macklin (Portsmouth, Va.) added 16 points and senior Dan Werner (Middletown, N.J.) chipped in 13 as the Gators won their first road game of the season. This one came at Veterans Memorial Arena, where the Gators improved to 7-0 all-time and enjoyed a home-court advantage just 75 miles from campus.
Florida hopes to be back in Jacksonville in March for the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament. If the Gators keep shooting like they did Friday, they would be hard to beat.
Ayron Hardy led Jacksonville (0-5) with 16 points and six rebounds. Travis Cohn added 15 points.
Jacksonville sliced into a 12-point lead early in the second half, cutting it to 60-56, but the Gators pulled away with several 3s.
Florida made eight of its first 12 shots from behind the arc in the second half. That's more 3-pointers than the team hit in six games this season.
The Gators won several games, including against Florida State and Michigan State last week, with staunch defense and a relentless press. This one, though, came courtesy of the 3-point line.
Walker was 4 of 5 from 3-point range, while Boynton and Werner added three 3s each and junior Chandler Parsons (Casselberry, Fla.) hit both of his shots from behind the arc.
The Dolphins faded down the stretch and lost their second straight home opener. This one came after a brutal opening schedule that included games at Florida State, California and South Carolina.
Jacksonville's early season schedule was ranked the toughest in the nation by the latest Sagarin ratings. The Dolphins looked like the stretch made them ready for Florida.
But they faded late in the first half.
The Gators held Jacksonville to one field goal -- Ben Smith's putback in the closing seconds -- over the final 7:16 of the first half. It was a tight game for most of the first 20 minutes.
Florida opened up a 41-30 lead thanks to Boynton's hot streak and Jacksonville's cold shooting. Boynton hit a 3-pointer, made a driving shot high off the glass, then added a steal and a layup for Florida's biggest lead of the first half.
The Dolphins missed eight consecutive shots down the stretch, but the 5-foot-10 Smith dribbled by Florida's big men for a bucket just before the buzzer. Donovan made a beeline for the locker room with a scowl on his face.
-UF-
