Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points and Zyon Pullin added 19 as Florida notched a 102-88 victory over No. 19 Alabama on Friday night in Nashville, Tenn., to advance to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Tyrese Samuel contributed 18 points and Alex Condon had 12 as the sixth-seeded Gators (23-10) won for the 12th time in the past 16 games. Will Richard tallied 10 points for Florida, which used a 17-0 burst in the first half to take control.
The Gators will face seventh-seeded Texas A&M in Saturday’s semifinals. No. 4 seed Auburn and No. 9 seed Mississippi State will meet in the other semi.
Mark Sears scored 22 points for third-seeded Alabama (21-11), which lost for the fourth time in the past six games. Aaron Estrada had 17 points and six assists, Nick Pringle added 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Grant Nelson registered 11 points and three blocked shots.
Florida shot 50.8 percent from the field, including 7 of 20 (35 percent) from 3-point range. The Gators led by as many as 24 points while beating Alabama for the second time in three meetings this season.
The Crimson Tide connected on 46.5 percent of their shots and were just 6 of 25 (24 percent) from behind the arc.
Clayton scored 12 first-half points and Pullin added 11 as the Gators led 48-33 at the break.
The Crimson Tide scored the first eight points of the game before everything went downhill.
Florida recovered to tie the score at 17 on a 3-pointer by Clayton with 10:27 left in the half.
Alabama later led 31-27 after a basket by Sears with 5:40 remaining before the Gators went on their 17-0 surge.
Clayton scored five straight points to give Florida its first lead of the game, Pullin soon drained a 3-pointer to make it a six-point lead, and Clayton added two free throws with 1:21 left to end the run and give the Gators a 44-31 advantage.
Richard punctuated Florida’s first half with a fierce dunk with 20 seconds left.
The Gators continued the momentum with a 10-4 run to open the second half. Samuel delivered a thunderous one-hand dunk to push the lead over 20 for the first time as Florida went up 58-37 with 17:07 to play.
Clayton’s driving basket gave the Gators a 73-49 edge with 10:35 left. Alabama never mounted a substantial threat despite whittling down the final margin of defeat.
–Field Level Media
