Allen leads Florida over No. 12 Auburn, 72-66
Feb 24, 2018
Junior guard KeVaughn Allen matched his career high of six 3-pointers and scored 24 points as Florida continued its mastery of No. 12 Auburn by recording a 72-66 victory on Saturday in SEC action at Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Fla.
Junior guard Jalen Hudson scored the decisive basket and added 19 points as the Gators (18-11, 9-7 SEC) beat the Tigers for the 11th consecutive time and 21st in the past 22 meetings. Freshman forward Dontay Bassett scored a season-high 12 points and senior point guard Chris Chiozza had a career-best 12 assists as Florida snapped a three-game losing streak.
Sophomore guard Mustapha Heron scored 22 points for Auburn (24-5, 12-4), which saw its conference lead slip to one game in front of second-place Tennessee. Freshman forward Chuma Okeke added 12 points and 10 rebounds while junior forward Desean Murray had 10 points for the Tigers, who were plagued by 16 turnovers.
Hudson converted a three-point play to give the Gators a 69-66 lead with 26.8 seconds left. Florida made three of four free throws to ice it.
The Tigers, who shot 44.6 percent from the field, have lost 12 straight in Gainesville since last winning in 1996. The Gators shot 44.1 percent from the field -- including 13-of-28 from 3-point range -- but were a porous 7-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Florida led by nine at halftime and increased its lead to 43-29 after back-to-back 3-pointers from senior guard Egor Koulechov and Allen.
The Gators led 46-35 after a 3-pointer by Hudson with 15:21 remaining before Auburn responded with a 9-2 push to move within four with 12:01 left.
The Tigers received back-to-back 3-pointers from junior guard Bryce Brown and Heron to take their first lead of the second half at 57-56 with 3:24 left. A three-point play by Murray gave Auburn a 62-60 edge with 2:46 left before Allen drained a 3-pointer 29 seconds later to give Florida a one-point advantage.
Allen drained his sixth 3-pointer of the contest with 1:43 remaining to give the Gators a 66-64 lead. Chiozza missed two free throws with 51.8 seconds left and the Tigers knotted the score on two free throws by sophomore guard Jared Harper with 41.9 seconds to play.
Allen scored the final nine points of the first half, including a 70-footer that sailed through the nets as time expired, to give the Gators a 33-24 lead at the break.
--Field Level Media
