Florida Gators thump Wright State Raiders 78-65: NCAA Basketball Recap
Bradley Beal put together one brilliant performance, and it was just enough to will the Florida Gators to another victory.
Beal scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds to lift Florida to a 78-65 victory over Wright State Raiders on November 21 at St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa. Florida have now improved to a 3-1 record while Wright State
dropped to 2-2.
Beal, who is a freshman, went 6 for 11 from the field and 9 for 11 from free throw line. Kenny Boynton also chipped in 22 points, connecting on 7 for 11 from the floor and 6 for 9 from three point range. Mike Rosario came off the
bench with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Gators.
Julius Mays’ performance was awesome but he could not carry it all on his own, even with his career-best of 21 points, five assists and a team-high three steals. John Balwigaire had 15 points and three steals in 24 minutes of action
while Reggie Arceneaux ended with 13 points, six assists and three rebounds.
Florida shot 45.1 percent from the field and limited the Raiders to 42.6 percent. The Gators made 12 three-pointers while the Wright State hit only 7 of 22. Additionally, the 10th-ranked Florida owned a 35-24 rebound edge for the
game.
Florida opened the game briskly, with Kenny Boynton and Brad Beal hitting three’s early in the piece to carve out an 11-4 lead. The Gators maintained their dominance the rest of the half and held a 15-point lead, 44-29, at halftime.
The Raiders made a comeback early in the second half and pulled within 50-41 with 14 minutes to go till the final buzzer. Boynton however drained a three-pointer to push Florida’s lead back to the double figures, 53-41.
Raiders has a bit of fight left in them though and they struck again late in the half to trim their deficit to nine, 66-57, with 5 minutes remaining on the clock. Erving Walker however hit a pair of free throw to make it a double-digit
game for Florida again and they were never seriously threatened for rest of the period.
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