SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Walter Clayton Jr. rescued top-seeded Florida with two late three-pointers, and the Gators reached nine points late to reach the Final Four with an 84-79 victory at Texas Tech in the Western Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
The Gators (34-4) chased 75-66 in under three minutes. They then held a ferocious rally against the third Seed Red Raiders (28-9), who did the same thing at the Sweet 16 against Arkansas.
Clayton dribbled from the paint and hit a fadeaway 3 with 59 seconds left to give Florida a 78-77 lead, with the Gators grabbed from there, progressing to their first Final Four in Coach Todd Golden’s third season since 2014. Florida will face the South Region champions (either Auburn or Michigan) in San Antonio next Saturday.
The comeback offered a happy ending with Golden returning to the Bay Area, where he played for St. Mary’s college and started as head coach in San Francisco.
When the final horns squealed, Golden turned to the Gators fans, and his players ran out to celebrate the unlikely victory minutes ago, clearly frying his fist.
Clayton, who began his college career with Iona, scored 30 points to lead the Gators. Thomas Howe added 20 points and 11 rebounds from the bench.
Haugh began his comeback with two three pointers. Clayton then tied it on a shot from long distance after Texas Tech missed the second straight front end, one-on-one.
After Darius Williams scored a low score at Texas Tech, Clayton’s final three went ahead through Florida, and the Gators sealed it off with a foul line.
Williams missed two three late. He sunk a basket to win the game in the second half of restrictions and game winners in seconds of overtime with Arkansas on Thursday night.
Texas Tech fell short of its second Final Four trip after being on the wrong side of the game’s comeback. The Red Raiders gathered from 13 points in the final five minutes to beat the Sweet 16 Razorbacks.
Williams led the Texas Tech with 23 points, while JT Toppin added 20.
The game was mostly unable to build a greater than six-point lead on most teams as Texas technology leveraged turnovers and second chance points and Florida repeatedly reached the foul line. Clayton was fouled twice with three pointers early in the second half, scoring five points with six foul shots.
The Red Raiders went 10 times 12-2 runs, but were late to no longer able to hold onto it.
