Alabama falls to Florida, Gators advance to title

March 16, 2013

MorrisAdmin,

Kenny Boynton scored 11 straight points during a 15-0 second-half run Saturday as No. 13 Florida rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit to beat Alabama 61-51 in a Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal.

The top-seeded Gators (26-6) advanced to Sunday’s championship game against Ole Miss. Alabama (21-12), the tournament’s No. 4 seed, will spend Sunday waiting to learn its fate from the NCAA tournament selection committee.

Held scoreless for the first 25 minutes of the game, Boynton finished with a game-high 16 points. Patric Young had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Gators. Mike Rosario added 10 points.

Trevor Releford scored 12 points and Nick Jacobs and Trevor Lacey each added 11 for Alabama.

Alabama led 37-27 with 16:05 remaining before Florida reeled off 15 straight points over the next five minutes.