Florida again tops Tennessee

During the regular season, Florida defeated Tennessee 81-75 in overtime in Knoxville on Jan. 11 and 61-60 in Gainesville on Feb. 12.

Sophomore guard Kenny Boynton led Florida with 22 points Friday, all but two of them in the second half as the Gators   rallied from a 34-29 halftime deficit. Boynton was 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.

As a team, the Gators made 14 of 17 shots from the field in the second half.

Freshman forward Tobias Harris had 25 points for Tennessee,  18 of them in the first half.

The game was marked, or marred, by 44 fouls, including 28 against Tennessee.  The Gators shot 37 free throws, making 25, and the Vols shot 25, making 18.

Florida started the game strong, jumping to a 14-6 lead in the opening minutes, making nine of its first 12 shots from the field and leading by 12 points with 10 minutes left in the first half. But after trailing 27-16 with 9:03 left in the half, Tennessee went on an 18-2 run, culminated by a Harris 3-pointer, to lead by five points at halftime.

In the second half, Florida tied the game at 44 on a 3-point basket by Boynton with 14 minutes to play, then took a 47-46 lead on three free throws by Boynton about 30 seconds later. The  Gators stretched their lead to 11 points with about five minutes left on a driving basket by Erving Walker and a breakaway basket and free throw by Boynton.

Florida led by as many as 15 before five quick points by Tennessee cut the margin to 10 with 2:02 remaining.

The Gators had a first-round bye, while Tennessee had a grueling 74-68 victory over Arkansas on Thursday night. The Vols blew a 16-point lead before rallying to win that game.