Gators close out Georgia in overtime win after blowing big lead late

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Following a 1-3 start to league play, the Gators won their third consecutive SEC contest Saturday with a 102-98 overtime victory over Georgia. But for the second game in a row, Florida lost a double-digit lead late.

UF blew a 21-point advantage in the second half with too many turnovers and an 18-4 run by the Bulldogs in the last five minutes of regulation. The Gators regrouped in OT and opened the extra period with an 11-4 run to pull out the win.

Florida led by double digits for the last 5:54 of the first half and 15-plus minutes in the second period, but the Bulldogs rallied to pull within nine points at the 4:25 mark and then went on a 10-0 run in the last 2:44 to force overtime.

“It was obviously a gut-punch to see triple zeros across the clock and it be tied knowing that we have to go into overtime,” UF coach Todd Golden said. “The message was, ‘Hey, we can respond one of two ways in this situation. We can either feel sorry for ourselves and think we blew it and just kind of not regain that focus and regain that fight. Or we can buck up and get back to playing basketball.’

“I thought we did a good job of getting that thing to the finish line in overtime. … A win’s a win. The great thing is we can learn from it positively and not have a tough weekend thinking about a brutal loss.”

Sophomore center Micah Handlogten had his best game as a Gator, scoring a career-high 23 points and logging a season-high 17 rebounds. It marked the first 20-point performance of his career and his second double-double in three games.

“He played great. He’s clearly coming on and playing some of his best basketball,” Golden said of Handlogten. “You don’t give Georgia a 23-and-17 unless you’re a dude, and he’s just played really, really well for us. I think this is by far the best week he’s had as a Gator.”

Handlogten was one of four Gators in double figures. Senior point guard Zyon Pullin scored 20 points and matched his season-high with eight assists. Junior guards Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard finished with 18 points apiece as Clayton hit four 3-pointers.

Georgia’s RJ Melendez, who’s from Kissimmee, Florida, had a career day against the Gators. He dropped 35 points on 13-for-19 shooting, including 6-for-10 from downtown. Russel Tchewa (15 points), Blue Cain (14) and Justin Hill (11) also scored in double figures for UGA.

“Credit to Melendez, because he hasn’t been a very good 3-point shooter this year,” Golden said. “He was around 22 percent coming into this game. I think he was 6-for-19 in conference play, and he banged six today, so he doubled his total.

“And we’ve had to absorb some really good individual efforts over the past three games. [Tamar] Bates got us at Missouri (career-high 36). The other night [Josh] Hubbard got us a little bit (26), [Dalton] Knecht at Tennessee (career-high 39), and obviously tonight, Melendez, 35.”

UF built a 15-point cushion during the first 9:03 of the game, but Georgia went on a 12-2 run to cut it to five. The Gators responded with an 11-0 run to take their biggest lead of the opening half (16) and went into the locker room up 47-34.

After just 15 total turnovers in the last two games, the Gators turned it over 19 times vs. UGA, one shy of their season worst. But UF posted a plus-20 edge on the glass (48-27) for the first time in SEC play and the third game overall this season.

“We had too many turnovers tonight. We had seven at halftime, we end up with 19. That’s been something that’s been really good for us, the way we take care of the ball. We did not do that tonight in the second half,” Golden said.

“I thought Will gave us a lift on the glass. And then obviously Tyrese [Samuel] and Micah were relentless. They had 12 combined (offensive boards) amongst themselves. … I think Micah, especially after today, analytically might be the top offensive rebounder in the country for offensive rebound rate.”

Saturday marked Florida’s third straight win over former coach Mike White and extended the program’s streak vs. Georgia to nine games.

The Gators (14-6, 4-3 SEC) are back on the road Wednesday against Kentucky at 8 p.m. on ESPN. The Wildcats (14-4, 4-2) defeated UF earlier this season, 87-85, in another game where the Gators blew a late lead.