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Florida grabs share of SEC title

Florida guard Scottie Wilbekin (right) drives to the basket past Vanderbilt forward James Siakam (35) during the second half of the top-ranked Gators’ 57-54 victory over the Commodores on Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn.
Florida guard Scottie Wilbekin (right) drives to the basket past Vanderbilt forward James Siakam (35) during the second half of the top-ranked Gators’ 57-54 victory over the Commodores on Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Dorian Finney-Smith scored 19 points, and No. 1 Florida held off Vanderbilt 57-54 on Tuesday night to clinch at least a share of its second consecutive SEC title and seventh overall.

Patric Young added 12 points for the Gators (26-2, 15-0 SEC), who continued the best season in school history by winning their 20th consecutive game, and now they will have a chance to claim their third SEC title in four years all to themselves with a victory against LSU on Saturday.

The Commodores (15-12, 7-8) beat Florida 83-70 the last time the Gators came into Memorial Gym ranked No. 1, on Feb. 17, 2007. Coach Kevin Stallings only has seven healthy scholarship players right now, and they proved no match for Florida’s smothering defense.

The Commodores sure made it interesting.

Kyle Fuller missed a tying three in the final seconds, and Dai-Jon Parker missed a put back attempt.

Rod Odom scored 12 points and Parker added 11 as Vanderbilt outshot Florida 48.8 percent (20 of 41) to 40.4 percent (21 of 52). The Commodores hit four of eight three-point attempts in the second half to stay close.

The Commodores came in 8-16 all-time against top ranked teams tapping into what they like to call Memorial magic in Nashville. The old gym wasn’t sold out Tuesday night, but fans certainly were as loud as they have been all season trying to urge Vanderbilt to an improbable upset.

Florida led 32-25 at halftime and pushed that out to 53-45 only to see Vanderbilt rally each time. Fuller’s three-point play with 3:16 remaining made it 53-50. Finney-Smith hit a free throw, then Vanderbilt forced a shot clock violation when Scottie Wilbekin’s desperate shot from long range banked off the backboard and rim. Fuller made two free throws with a minute left.

Finney-Smith got the ball wide open and knocked down a three with 30.6 seconds to go for the clinching basket.

Fuller answered with a driving layup. Wilbekin dribbled away precious seconds before being fouled only to miss the front end of a 1-and-1. Vanderbilt took a timeout to set up a tying shot but couldn’t connect.

GEORGIA 71, MISSOURI 56

ATHENS, Ga. - Charles Mann scored 19 points, Marcus Thornton added 15 and Georgia won its second consecutive game with a victory over Missouri.

The Bulldogs (16-11, 10-5 SEC) have won six of seven.

Georgia’s Kenny Gaines, coming off a career-high 27 points at South Carolina, finished with 10 points.

Jabari Brown and Jordan Clarkson each finished with 17 points for Missouri (19-9, 7-8).

The Tigers, coming off Saturday’s dispirited loss at Alabama, might have hurt their chance of making a sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Georgia, which went just 6-6 in nonconference play, began the SEC schedule by snapping Missouri’s 26-game home winning streak on Jan. 8, is alone in third place in the SEC behind No. 1 Florida and No. 17 Kentucky.

Missouri’s defense has struggled in the last two games. Georgia, which began the night with the SEC’s worst field-goal shooting percentage in league games, shot 52.1 percent from the field.

TUESDAY’S GAMES Florida 57, Vanderbilt 54 Georgia 71, Missouri 56

TODAY’S GAMES All times Central Texas A&M at LSU, 7 p.m.

Alabama at Mississippi, 7 p.m.

Tennessee at Mississippi State, 7 p.m. South Carolina at Auburn, 8 p.m.

THURSDAY’S GAME Arkansas at Kentucky, 6 p.m.

Sports, Pages 22 on 02/26/2014

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