After Jared Harper missed the backend of the one and one with six seconds left Andrew Nembhard raced down the court and put up a three with four Tiger defenders around him as time was expiring and missed and Auburn edged Florida 65-62 to advance to the SEC tournament final.
There was a lot of contact on the shot but the officials elected to not make the call and the Gators were bounced from the conference tournament. Although the questionable call did Florida in to end the game the 19 total turnovers didn’t help.
The Gators shot a fantastic 60.5 percent on the game but only put up a total of 38 shots. The Tigers were able to put up 56 shots on the game and were really good from downtown, hitting 13 of 29 threes (44.8%).
Jalen Hudson and Kevarrius Hayes both led the way for the Florida with 16 points apiece. Hayes also had 12 boards for a double-double and Hudson threw in four rebounds and assists to round out his performance.
KeVaughn Allen threw in nine points on 3-6 shooting and Noah Locke pitched in eight points on 3-4 shooting as well. Andrew Nembhard was quieter in the semifinal with only four points and five assists to round things out for the Gators.
Everybody is tired by this point in the season and both Florida and Auburn showed that as the semifinal match began. The Tiger didn’t hit a shot until 2:30 into the game, which took the lead 3-2.
By the under-16 media timeout at 15:34 Auburn was up 5-2 and Florida had only put up two total shots after turning it over four times in their first six possessions. Things were not starting well.
But after a quick 5-0 run after Nembhard and Hayes hit a couple of shots and a FT from the big guy the Gators started finding a groove, going up 7-5.
As the game continued Florida stayed hot and by the 12:12 mark Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl had to call a timeout after the Gators went on a 7-0 run over 1:32 behind a couple of nice shots from Locke.
The Tigers wouldn’t go away though and Jared Harper would turn it on, erasing Florida’s lead and tying it at 19 with 8:12 remaining in the half. The Gators were very efficient, hitting eight of their 11 shots but were on a 2:21 drought to allow the run.
After Harper hit another three to take a 22-19 lead for the Tigers Hayes and Johnson would answer for Florida and take the lead right back. The rest of the half would go back and forth but the Gators wouldn’t relinquish the lead.
After a quick 5-0 run by Allen with three minutes to go the Gators held a four-point lead. Harper would answer on a three with 1:51 to go but Nembhard closed out the half well, converting on a layup and blocking Harpers three attempt as time expired.
Florida would go into the break up 34-30 and shooting an incredible 70 percent from the field (14-20) but Harper kept the Tigers close with 16 points in the opening period.
The second half started similarly to how the first did with a bit of a sluggish start. Hayes was big to start as came up with some key rebounds and drew fouls. The Gators didn’t miss a shot in the first four minutes and led 39-35 but only put up two shots while Bryce Brown started finding a bit of groove for the Tigers.
Auburn would continue to open things up and after Locke hit a three to put Florida up 44-41 with 14 minutes left Chuma Okeke and Samir Doughty hit two triples themselves to take the momentum and the lead 47-44 with 13:22 remaining.
That’s when things started to take a dive for the Gators. Hudson hit all three free throws after drawing a foul on a three to tie it up at 47 with 12:46 to play, but Florida wouldn’t see another point go up on the scoreboard for 6:22.
By that point the Tigers had taken control of the game, forcing five turnovers by Florida in five minutes and leading 54-47. But despite the horrific stretch Hayes hit a pair of free throws with 6:24 left to make it just a six point game.
The Gators were reeling but there was still plenty of time to come back. Brown hit a triple that really hurt the Gators with just under six to play to put them up eight but Hayes answered with a layup.
Things would go back and forth for a couple of minutes and Auburn held a 61-55 lead after Okeke hit a jumper. Nembhard would come down and fire up a shot and miss, but Hayes gathered the rebound and swing it back to Nembhard who found Hudson wide open on the right wing and he buried the triple to make it a two-point game.
Florida then stopped Aurbun and finally held a chance to get within one or tie. After Johnson missed a layup Hayes gathered the offensive board again and swung it to Allen who missed but Hudson was there to grab another offensive board and eventually Nembhard found Hayes down low for the dunk to bring them within one with 1:11 to play.
The Gators would then force a backcourt violation on the Tigers and take over with 57 seconds to play. They were right back in it. Johnson would miss on the three though and Auburn would head the other way with 40 seconds left up one.
All Florida had to do was play defense and generate a stop because there was enough time for a possession if they did. Unfortunately, you can’t do much about a guy who has the range of Harper.
The Auburn guard pulled up from the end of the SEC logo and drilled the three with 10 seconds left to put the Tigers up 64-60 with 12 seconds left. It was his lone field goal of the second half.
The Gators weren’t dead yet though. Hudson knifed his way down the lane and scored in five seconds with eight remaining to make it a two-point game again. After the foul on Harper he had a chance to end the game once again but missed the second free throw.
Nembhard raced down with six seconds remaining and pulled up with four Tiger defenders around him.
He barely released it out of his hands with so many defenders around him and there was a lot of contact, but the refs elected not to make the call and time expired. Florida fell to Auburn 65-62 in the semifinals of the SEC tournament.
Nothing is set in stone, but after defeating Arkansas Thursday and top-seeded LSU Friday Florida is expected to be locked into the NCAA tournament, but will have to wait to see how it plays out Sunday night.
