Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points and other seeds Florida surpassed the fourth-seeded Tennessee 86-77 on Sunday to win the Southeastern Conference tournament at Nashville.
Will Richard added 17 points because No. 4 Gators (30-4) received SEC’s automatic bid for the NCAA tournament. Florida is expected to be a seed no. 1 when the console is revealed later on Sunday.
Alex Condon recorded 13 points and nine returns, Thomas Haugh counted 11 points and Alijah Martin had 10 points for Gators, who won his first Sec tournament title since 2014.
Jordan Gainey got a season best 24 points for No. 8 Tennessee (27-7), which will probably land a No 2 seed in the NCAA field.
Zakai Zeigler added 23 points, eight assists, five returns and three steals for the volunteers, who lost to Gators for the second time in three meetings this season.
Tennessee leading goal scorer Chaz Lanier scored 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting before he foured out with 5:29 left.
Gators shot 42.6 percent from the field, including 9 out of 27 from 3-point intervals. Florida had a 39-25 rebounding advantage. Tennessee made 44.9 percent of its shots and was 8 out of 26 behind the bow.
Florida led 60-47 just before the Midway point in the second half when Gayseys less than a minute 8-0 Flurry took back volunteers in the game.
Gainey started sprinting with a 3-pointer with 9:48 left. He drove through the lane for an arch and was fouled and made a free throw 27 seconds later. Gainey then made two free throw with 8:56 left to get Tennessee within 60-55.
A short time later, Clayton buried a 3-pointer to give Florida a lead of 65-57 with 8:08 left. He nailed another trey with 6:49 left to once again put the streets forward with eight.
Felix Okparas Dunk drew the volunteers within six with 6:30 left but the streets responded with eight straight points. Haugh got five straight points, including a 3-pointer, before Richard made two free throw for a 78-64 advantage with 4:22 left.
Tennessee crawled back within eight but Denzel Aberdeen’s layout and Martin’s can outside Haugh’s lob with 33.3 seconds left it sealed.
Richard got 11 first half points when the streets led 39-30 at the break. Gainey did 10 in half for Tennessee.
A Jumper by Gainey Banden at 16 years with 11:30 left during the first half before the streets received nine of the next 10 points as part of a 16-4 burst.
Richard knocked down a Trey to meet the wave and five Florida a 32-20 advantage with 5:11 left. Aberdeen buried a ten with a second left to give the street’s nine-point half-time.
-Field level media
