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Broken Clipboard Spurs Gators

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By JENNA MARINA Tribune correspondent

Published: January 24, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Gators men's basketball team might have to chalk up its win to a broken clipboard.

When South Carolina guard Devan Downey sank another 3 in the second half of Wednesday night's game, Florida coach Billy Donovan called a timeout, during which he vented his frustration by breaking a small clipboard across his knee.

A broken piece hit sophomore Dan Werner's shin, but the forward didn't think he and the rest of his teammates were on Donovan's bad side.

"That's just Coach's passion," Werner said. "When he gets fired up, he gets everyone else going. I mean, I love it."

The act fired up the Gators (17-3, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) enough to escape with a 73-71 win against South Carolina (9-9, 1-3).

Florida center Marreese Speights built on his 20-point performance against Kentucky to put together a double-double (22 points, 13 rebounds) against the Gamecocks.

"I think one of the most difficult things for young players to handle is success because I think it breeds such complacency," Donovan said. "It was great to see him not complacent tonight. ... I was really encouraged to see him play two games in a row like he did. That's been part of his growth and development as a player and one of the reasons why I've stayed on him because once you do it once I believe you can do it again."

After exchanging blows for much of the first half, South Carolina extended its lead to eight as Florida went scoreless for nearly three minutes. Jai Lucas' 3-pointer with 28.6 seconds left broke the Gators' drought, and Florida pulled within two at the half.

"They outscrapped us in the first half and I knew there was going to be a lot of emotion in the game," Donovan said. "There was some loose basketball in the second half that we did a better job of coming up with and that's the thing I like about this team. When they're not playing well, it's not going well, there's a fight to say we got to try to do something to change the momentum of the game."

Donovan was willing to try anything to get the Gators some of that momentum.

He even threw in freshman walk-on Shane Payne for Lucas with 5.6 seconds left in the first half to guard South Carolina's leading scorer, Downey.

Payne returned 3:30 into the second half to play for 1:14 after Donovan called a timeout following a 6-0 run by the Gamecocks.

South Carolina later jumped out again to a 52-43 lead, but the Gators closed to 52-51 on a 9-0 run.

Florida again chipped away at the lead, going on a 9-0 run late in the second half to tie the game at 65 with 4:55 left.

The Gators finally claimed the game on a long 3-pointer by Nick Calathes, which upped the score to 68-67. Werner knocked down a 3 one possession later and Speights' slam with 1:28 remaining was the final dagger.

INSIDE THE GAME

PLAYER OF THE GAME: South Carolina had no answer for Florida C Marreese Speights, who notched a double-double with 22 points (10-for-13 shooting) and 13 rebounds.

STAT OF THE GAME: South Carolina gave up 13 turnovers, but nine of those came on Florida steals.

TURNING POINT: After clawing its way back from several large deficits, Florida finally managed to get ahold of the game with a long 3-pointer by Nick Calathes to up the score to 68-67. Though 3:45 remained, the Gators held on to their lead.

UP NEXT: Florida hosts Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Sunday.

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