Thomas Haugh posted his first double-double of the season, as No. 10 Florida dominated on the glass and escaped with a 78-76 win over rival Florida State Tuesday night in Gainesville, Fla.
Haugh finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, leading a glass attack which saw Florida (2-1) rack up a 58-36 rebounding advantage to run its rivalry winning streak up to five games.
Rueben Chinyelu added 10 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Arkansas transfer Boogie Fland scored 18 points and hit his first two 3-pointers as a Gator.
Robert McCray V led the Seminoles (2-1) with 29 points and had four of their seven assists. He scored the team’s final 16 points of regulation, cutting what was an eight-point deficit to one before missing what would have been the tying free throw and then missing a game-tying 3-point attempt with seven seconds left.
McCray, Kobe MaGee (14 points) and Chauncey Wiggins (11 points) combined for 7 of Florida State’s 9 made 3-pointers as they shot 26.5 percent from the perimeter.
Florida, somehow, was even worse from 3-point range, making 6 of 31 (19.4 percent). It also overcame committing 18 turnovers by blocking eight shots and holding Florida State to 33.8 percent shooting from the floor.
The Seminoles ended up on top 40-37 at the end of a back-and-forth first half which never saw a lead bigger than seven points either way. Florida State had a pair of 7-0 runs, turning a 12-5 deficit into a tie game and a 23-18 deficit into a 25-23 lead.
Wiggins scored all of his points in the first half, going 3-for-6 from 3-point range. While the Seminoles were nearly doubled up on the boards in the first half (28-15), they made up the gap by forcing 11 first-half turnovers and limiting the Gators to 2-of-14 (14.3 percent) from three.
The two teams went blow for blow over the opening 10 minutes of the second half before Florida finally made its run.
After trailing or tied for over 18 minutes of game time, the Gators took their first lead since the 7:56 mark of the first half on a Haugh layup that made it 59-57 with 9:38 left.
That basket was early in an 11-0 run that opened up the largest lead of the game at 66-57.
The Seminoles used a 13-5 run entirely on McCray points to cut a 69-61 deficit with 6:11 left to 74-73 with 17 seconds left.
