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FLORIDA 81, AUBURN 63: The 11th-ranked Gators dispose of the Tigers behind Haslem's 22 points and Nelson's six 3-pointers.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 8, 2002
ATLANTA -- The Gators remain in the hunt for their first SEC tournament championship.
Thank you cards from Florida fans should be sent in care of Udonis Haslem and Brett Nelson.
It wasn't the kind of overall showing that would send shivers down the spine of the rest of the championship contenders, but in the end, it was more than good enough to get the job done.
Haslem, the senior center, scored 22, had 10 rebounds and 3 assists Thursday night, and Nelson, the junior forward, added 23 points and five rebounds to lead Florida to an 81-63 win over sixth-seeded Auburn in the first round at the Georgia Dome.
The third-seeded Gators (22-7) play Mississippi State (23-7) at 7:30 tonight in the quarterfinals.
No. 11-ranked Florida trailed by seven early, then made a run midway through the half, eventually clinging to a 32-30 halftime lead.
"I think we came out and they slowed it down and we didn't play particularly well in the first half," said Haslem, who was 7-of-7 from the field and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. "In the second half, we got it going a little bit and we were fortunate to knock down shots. We knew that the last game against them was going to have no bearing and we were just fortunate to make shots."
The shots fell early in the second half as the Gators opened with a 13-3 run, taking a 45-33 lead.
"The first five minutes of the second half they came out and made great shots, then we cut back into it, but Billy made some great adjustments," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said.
Trailing by 14, Auburn went on a 6-0 run, but Haslem inside and Nelson hitting from the outside was too much for the undermanned Tigers, who were playing without backup center Kyle Davis (wrist).
During a span that began with Nelson's 3-pointer at the 16:01 mark of the second half, and ending with another Nelson 3 with 4:53 left, Haslem and Nelson combined for 22 of Florida's 24 points.
"We came out with a lot of intensity, but Florida is a great team and you almost have to play a perfect game against them," said junior Marquis Daniels, who scored a team-high 23 for Auburn. "It really just came down to the boards tonight." Florida outrebounded Auburn 38-26, with the Gators having 16 offensive rebounds to seven for Auburn, which has started four freshmen in three of its past six games.
"The second shots they got were really the difference," Ellis said.
Florida scored 28 in the paint and 21 off 16 Auburn turnovers (the Gators had 11 turnovers).
Nelson's six 3-pointers moved him into first place for the most in a season at Florida (94), surpassing Craig Brown's 89 in 1993-94.
"The first half we came out a little bit flat ... but in the second half we really stepped it up, got the game going up and down a little bit and I think that was probably the difference," Nelson said.
Florida shot 49 percent from the field (after shooting 28 percent in the opening five minutes) and was 7-of-20 from 3-point range.
The Gators struggled to get anything going early in the game and their outside shooting failed miserably. Florida was 0-for-5 from 3-point range in the first six minutes. Then, in an odd turn of events, it was Florida's much-maligned bench that came to its aid in the form of freshman forward James White.
White had five consecutive points during an 11-4 Florida run to tie it at 15 with 11:51 remaining in the first half. After being outscored 30-0 in the final regular-season game against Kentucky, Florida's bench outscored Auburn's 17-11.
"I really thought we got good productivity out of our bench," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "I thought James came in and gave us great energy and played very well."