Denzel Aberdeen came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points and Florida erased an 18-point first-half deficit to defeat Texas A&M 95-90 on Saturday in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
The sixth-seeded Gators (24-10) will play fourth-seeded Auburn on Sunday for the tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In Saturday’s first semifinal, the Tigers outlasted No. 9 seed Mississippi State 73-66.
The seventh-seeded Aggies (20-14) will wait to see if they land one of the last at-large bids to the 68-team field, which will be announced Sunday. Saturday’s result snapped a five-game winning streak, including Friday night’s 97-87 upset of second-seeded Kentucky, that put Texas A&M back on the NCAA bubble.
Will Richard added 19 for Florida, hitting four 3-pointers and going 7 of 8 at the foul line. Walter Clayton added five of the Gators’ 14 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, while Tyrese Samuel and Zyon Pullin each tallied 15.
Wade Taylor fired in a game-high 30 points for the Aggies, connecting on six 3-pointers for the second straight game. Tyrece Radford and Solomon Washington (10 rebounds) each added 18 points, while Manny Obaseki chipped in 12 points before fouling out.
Texas A&M led 40-22 with 5:20 left in the first half after Taylor drained a 3-pointer. But Florida used the final five-plus minutes of the half to chip away at the big deficit. Aberdeen scored 10 points in less than two minutes as the Gators fought back to within 50-42 at intermission.
Clayton hit a 3-pointer with 13:51 remaining in the game to put Florida ahead 59-58, its first lead of the day. Aberdeen canned two foul shots at the 7:37 mark to give the Gators a 72-70 lead. Texas A&M tied it at 72-72, but never went ahead again.
Clayton converted a four-point play with 3:21 left to up Florida’s advantage to 86-75. The Aggies rallied within four points three times in the final two minutes but the Gators held them off by canning seven of eight free throws.
–Field Level Media
