Walter Clayton Jr. had 22 points and three steals to help sixth-seeded Florida escape with an 85-80 victory over 11th-seeded Georgia on Thursday night in Nashville to reach the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals.
Tyrese Samuel added 17 points and 15 rebounds and Will Richard had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Gators (22-10). Zyon Pullin had 11 points and eight assists before fouling out and Alex Condon added 10 points for Florida.
The Gators will face third-seeded Alabama on Friday night.
Silas Demary Jr. and Noah Thomasson scored 14 points apiece for Georgia (17-16). Justin Hill and RJ Melendez had 13 apiece for the Bulldogs.
Georgia trailed by six before Hill scored five straight points to cut Florida’s lead to 74-73 with 2:46 left.
The Bulldogs had a chance to take the lead but Clayton stole the ball, drove for the layup, was fouled and hit the free throw to give the Gators a four-point edge with 1:55 remaining.
Richard’s layup made it 79-74 with 1:04 left but Georgia hung around. Hill’s driving hoop pulled the Bulldogs within 83-80 with 6.4 seconds to play before Riley Kugel made two free throws with 5.3 seconds left to wrap it up for Florida.
Florida shot 43.8 percent from the field, including 6 of 17 from 3-point range. Samuel made just nine of 23 free-throw attempts.
The Bulldogs made 42.4 percent of their attempts and were 8 of 19 from behind the arc.
Georgia led 46-39 after a 3-pointer by Thomasson with 16:29 left in the game before Florida answered with a 19-6 burst.
A three-point play by Samuel gave the Gators a 49-48 edge with 13:10 remaining. Kugel capped it with a floater as Florida held a 53-49 lead with 11:19 left.
Thomasson hit another trey 20 seconds later but the Gators responded with five more points. The last two came after Georgia coach Mike White was called for a technical foul and Clayton knocked down both attempts to make it 58-52 with 10:26 left.
Florida led 66-58 after Clayton’s 3-pointer with 8:18 left before the Bulldogs rattled off 10 of the next 12 points to tie the score at 68 on a layup by Demary with 5:12 remaining.
Melendez scored 11 first-half points as Georgia held a 37-34 lead at the break. Richard had 13 in the half for Florida.
–Field Level Media