Florida Gators
Kentucky
Basketball Falls to No. 2 Kentucky, 89-77
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Despite a second-half comeback of 15 points, the University of Florida men's basketball team was defeated by No. 2 Kentucky, 89-77, in front of a crowd of 12,618 fans on Tuesday night at the O'Connell Center.
After Kentucky built a 55-40 lead in the second half, the Gators, led by sophomore guard Erving Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) mounted a comeback. Walker hit two 3-pointers and two free throws, then freshman guard Kenny Boynton (Pompano Beach, Fla.) got loose on a fast break that whittled Kentucky's lead to 61-54 with about 12 minutes to play. Within minutes, Walker hit two more treys on consecutive possessions. Redshirt junior Vernon Macklin (Portsmouth, Va.) rattled home a layup that made it 68-66 with 7:59 remaining. The Gators tied the game at 72 on Macklin's putback with 5:13 left. However, the Gators failed to regain the lead in the final minutes.
Walker led Florida with 20 points, and junior forward Alex Tyus (St. Louis, Mo.) added 17 points, including two baskets from behind the arc. Tyus led the team with seven boards. Boynton rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points.
Kentucky shot 51 percent from the field and made 7 of 18 from 3-point range, while Florida shot 38 percent from the floor and hit 8 of 27 from behind the arc.
Kentucky's Eric Bledsoe scored a career-high 25 points, Patrick Patterson added 15 and John Wall chipped in 19, including the Wildcats' final seven points.
The Gators resume conference play on Saturday night as they take on LSU at the O'Connell Center. The game, which tips off at 8 p.m., will be broadcast live on FSN.
-UF-
