UF falls in final seconds
Gators’ Robinson, Finney-Smith each have 14 points.
GAINESVILLE — After calling a timeout trailing 6159 with the ball and just 17 seconds left to play, Ole Miss had one chance to win the game.
And with 2.7 seconds remaining Stefan Moody launched a winning 3-pointer from the nose of the alligator masthead at half court to give Ole Miss a stunning 62-61 win over Florida on Thursday.
“It felt good,” Moody said. “I obviously didn’t really feel it until it went in.”
Moody finished with a game-high 18 points on 5 of 10 shooting — including a 4-for-7 from 3-point range — while LaDarius White scored 16 points off the bench for the Rebels (17-7, 8-3 Southeastern Conference).
After eight score changes and two ties through the first 12 minutes, Florida (12-12, 5-6) finished the first half with a 38-33 advantage after outscoring Ole Miss 16-12 in the final 7:22.
But Florida’s lead was never safe.
Between a combination of second-half scoring droughts and poorly timed turnovers, the Gators never led by more than five points through- out the second half and never by more than seven in the game.
“Everyone was waiting on somebody to make a play instead of trying to make the play collectively as a group,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
Florida held the lead down the stretch, but Ole Miss cut its deficit to two points with 2:23 left before Moody hit the winner. M. J. Rhett stole a pass from Jacob Kurtz intended for Dorian Finney-Smith to seal the game.
Devin Robinson and Finney-Smith each scored 14 points for Florida, and four other UF players scored at least seven points in the loss.
Louisiana Tech 65, FAU 54: The Bulldogs (19-6, 10-2 Conference USA) grabbed an 11-point halftime lead and handed the visiting Owls their 10th loss in 11 conference games. FAU (8-14 overall) was led by Jackson Trapp’s 17 points and Marquan Botley added 14.
St. Thomas 67, Northwood 64: Chris Solomon scored 19 points and Ian Umpierre added 16, but the host Seahawks (14-11, 6-8 Sun Conference) fell to the Bobcats (15-9, 10-5) in West Palm Beach. Fred Mattison added 13 points and 13 rebounds for Northwood.