Walter Clayton Jr. recorded 22 points, six assists and three steals and second-seeded Florida earned a spot in the Southeastern Conference championship game with a 104-82 domination of third-seeded Alabama at Nashville on Saturday.
Clayton matched his season best with six 3-pointers as No. 4 Florida (29-4) took a big step toward landing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Gators will face fourth-seeded Tennessee (27-6) in Sunday’s title game.
Alijah Martin and Will Richard scored 16 points apiece for Florida, which outscored the Crimson Tide 57-37 in the second half. Thomas Haugh and Denzel Aberdeen each scored 11 points as the Gators recorded a season high for points.
Chris Youngblood scored 14 points for No. 5 Alabama (25-8), while Mouhamed Dioubate had 12 points and 12 rebounds, Clifford Omoruyi also scored 12 points and Jarin Stevenson had 10.
Crimson Tide star Mark Sears had just nine points on 3-of-10 shooting.
Alabama big man Grant Nelson had nine points in the first half but missed the second after sustaining a lower left leg injury in the first half. The Gators outscored the Crimson Tide 61-40 after Nelson’s departure.
Rueben Chinyelu had 10 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out for Florida, which shot 51.4 percent from the field and made 12 of 27 from 3-point range.
Alabama shot 41.8 percent from the field and hit 11 of 35 3-point attempts.
After Youngblood hit a 3-pointer to start the second half, Florida erupted with a 15-2 burst and Martin scored nine of the points. He drained a 3-pointer and two free throws to start the run and later combined for back-to-back dunks with Alex Condon to give the Gators a 12-point lead.
Martin then made two more free throws to make it 64-50 with 14:41 left in the contest. A 3-pointer by Clayton gave Florida a 71-55 lead with 12:51 remaining.
Richard buried a 3-pointer to push the lead over 20 and make it 80-59 with 9:27 to play and the suspense was over. A trey by Aberdeen with 1:45 left pushed the Gators over 100.
Clayton had 12 first-half points as Florida led 47-45 at the break.
Nelson departed with the leg injury with 3:40 left in the first half and Alabama trailing by one.
Nelson’s dunk gave Alabama a 31-27 lead with 10:37 left in the first half. But the Crimson Tide only scored 14 points the rest of the half.
Clayton drained two 3-pointers during an 11-4 push to give the Gators a 38-35 lead. Haugh scored five straight points late in the half to help Florida’s cause.
–Field Level Media
