TALLAHASSEE — With Florida State surging and thousands of fans screaming, the Gators weren’t sure how much longer they could hold on.
Florida (5-1) dominated the first 30 minutes of action, only to see FSU turn it on late and cut the lead to as small as one.
But No. 16 UF never yielded, holding the lead it took 6:50 into the first half all the way through the final buzzer to defeat FSU (5-1) 55-51 on Sunday.
The win marks Florida’s first victory in Tallahassee since 2002.
“Coach said it was going to be a 40-minute game, and we just wanted to overcome it,” sophomore guard Kenny Boynton said. “We just wanted to keep going regardless of whether they made their run. We had our run in the first half. We just wanted to overcome it and keep playing.”
A 3-pointer by Michael Snaer cut UF’s lead to just two with 53 seconds remaining in the game.
With the shot clock winding down on Florida’s final possession, Boynton air-balled a three.
But Boynton’s shot ended in the hands of sophomore forward Erik Murphy, who finished with a left-handed reverse lay-up to give the Gators a 55-49 lead.
“I didn’t even see [Boynton] shoot it,” Murphy said.
“I just turned around and the ball was in my hand. I just saw it falling, so it was a little bit of luck.”
Florida’s win was also fueled largely by a stellar performance from the free-throw line, where it was 17 for 25.
That included a 9-of-12 performance in the game’s final 9:16, a stretch during which Murphy’s lay-in was the team’s only field goal.
“I think free throws were key,” Boynton said.
“We work on free throws every day and overall we hadn’t shot free throws well, but I think free throws down the stretch was key and that won us the game.”
With 11:49 left in the second half, UF held its biggest lead of the game at 41-28.
But Snaer responded for the Seminoles, hitting a trio of 3-pointers in just over 1:32 to trim UF’s lead to five.
Luke Loucks and Chris Singleton followed with baskets to cut UF’s lead to just one, but that was as close as FSU would get.
Florida State finished the game at 33 percent shooting, but their numbers were significantly lower than that of the majority of the game.
The Seminoles shot less than 30 percent for most of the game, including 28.6 percent for the first half.
Many of the struggles were due to the performance of heralded FSU forward Chris Singleton, who shot 2 for 12 in the game and scored just eight points.
“I’m not going to sit here and say we did a phenomenal job defensively,” Donovan said.
“But the zone took him out of rhythm and he missed some shots.”
Florida’s zone gave Florida State’s interior players trouble all night, as the Seminoles scored just 16 points in the paint for the game.
In response, Florida State was forced to shoot over the zone, which they did at a 7-for-17 clip.
The Gators also mixed some press into their defensive showing, forcing 14 turnovers for the game.
Florida will meet up with another in-state opponent next as it travels to Orlando to face UCF on Wednesday.
