Florida Gators cruise to a 96-70 victory over Stetson Hatters - NCAA Basketball Recap
Stetson Hatters proved to be a no match for Florida Gators in a NCAA Basketball Tournament 2011 game, played at the Amway Arena just few hours ago. Gators cruised to a 96-70 victory to improve their record to 5-1 whereas on the
other hand, Hatters have dropped to 3-3.
On the night, all eyes were on their coach Billy Donovan instead, for whom this win was extra special as he became the youngest coach to reach 400 wins. He received a standing ovation from all those who had gathered in the arena
as the milestone was displayed on the big screen after the game finished.
Brad Beal marshalled the winning team with a double-double, scoring a game-high 22 points and forcing 10 rebounds. Erving Walker drained 21 on 4 for 4 from the free throw line; Kenny Boynton chipped in with 13 while Will Yeguete
and Mike Rosario both scored 10 each.
From Hatters, Chris Perez pounded 20 including 8 from 14 from the arc while Adam Pegg contributed 19 on a 7 from 9 shooting from the free throw line. Willie Green (11) was the only other player who managed to end with the scores
in double figures.
Problems for Hatters started right from the beginning. After the first 10 minutes, they found themselves trailing behind 14-29. Things got even worse in next few minutes, as the deficit reached 22 points 38-16 with 6 minutes remaining
in the half.
Hatters needed to score quickly in order to stay in the game which they successfully did by reeling off a 15-2 run to reduce the deficit to 40-31. Unfortunately, they failed to cut it further as Gators finished the half with a
7 point spurt to make enter the second frame with a 16 point lead 47-31.
Patric Young and Yeguete started an early onslaught to swell the lead to 22 points 59-37 and pull the game completely away from Hatters. The fate of the game was decided there as Hatters had no answers to the attack.
The mammoth deficit pushed them on the back foot and although they went on to score few points but never managed to get even close to Gators.
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