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Calathes, Gators Topple Stetson

The Associated Press

Florida's Nick Calathes drives to the basket against Stetson's Mark Lohuis during the second half.

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By MIKE DiFERDINANDO

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 31, 2008

GAINESVILLE - A mistake-riddled first half left Florida only nine points ahead of Stetson as the Gators walked into the locker room.

When the Gators took the floor for the second half, Nick Calathes took the ball in his hands and put the team on his back.

The sophomore scored 23 points as Florida (11-2) pulled away to beat Stetson, 78-57, on Tuesday at the O'Connell Center.

"I don't think we pushed the ball enough in the first half," Calathes said. "Once they started to get tired, we started to score a lot of points. That was the difference."

The Gators went on a 15-0 run to start the second half and had four players score in double figures.
Alex Tyus turned in another strong performance, scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. It was the sophomore's second double-double of the season.

But the outlook wasn't all sunny for the Gators. UF gave up 20 offensive rebounds to the Hatters (5-5).

"They just outworked us," Dan Werner said. "Thank God we haven't played any games in the SEC yet. We have a lot of areas to improve in before we can compete with SEC-caliber teams."

Eloy Vargas saw action for only the second time this season. The freshman, who has been slowed by summer ankle surgery, played the final two minutes and scored 1 point.

UF LOSES ALLEN: Coach Billy Donovan said sophomore Adam Allen did not attend Tuesday's game because he was having surgery to repair an injury to the patellar tendon in his left knee.

"I would say that he is probably done for the year," Donovan said. "He has another four weeks of recovery after today.

Allen has not played all season because of the injury and likely will seek a medical redshirt. He averaged 4.0 points as a freshman.

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