Florida Gators
Arkansas
UF Defeats Arkansas, 73-58, Advances to Second Round of SEC Tournament
Friday, March 13, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Junior Dan Werner (Middletown, N.J) notched his fourth career double-double, the first this season, as Florida defeated Arkansas, 73-58, in the first round of the 2009 SEC tournament Thursday from the St. Pete Times Forum.
The Gators improved to 23-9 on the season, while the Razorbacks fell to 14-16. With the win, Florida advances to take on the No. 2 seed from the Western Division, the Auburn Tigers, Friday.
Werner tallied a season-high 13 rebounds in Florida's efforts, his third career double-digit rebounding effort, while chipping in 15 points.
The Gators headed to the locker room with a slight advantage at the half, 29-26, only shooting 33.3 percent from the field, but emerged in the second half with a 53.6 percent effort to top Arkansas' 46.0 percent. UF held steady from the charity stripe, hitting 15-of-17 (88.2) percent to propel its efforts, forced 16 turnovers and rallied for 11 steals.
Senior Walter Hodge (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) scored 16 points, while Nick Calathes (Casselberry, Fla.) finished with 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Gators, who defeated Arkansas for the fifth time in the last six meetings.
Freshman Erving Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the final Gator in double-digits, chipping in 12 points.
Tip-off for the Florida-Auburn match-up is set for 9:45 p.m. Friday and the game will be broadcast on Raycom Sports.
-UF-
