GAINESVILLE, Fla. | The Grambling State University men's basketball suffered an 86-61 loss to the 20
thranked Florida Gators on Monday night at the Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O'Connell Center on Monday night.
Kintavious Dozier led the GSU (1-2) with 19 points, five rebounds, one block and one assist.
Antwan Burnett (16 points),
James Flippin (12 points) and
Mikale Stevenson (10) wer ethe other the Tigers to reach double figure scoring.
As a team, GSU shot 42.6 percent from field (23-of-54) but struggled to connect from three-point range, making just 16.7 percent (2-of-12).
UF (3-0) was dominant on the boards, outrebounding GSU 45-24. The Gators gave themselves multiple second-chance opportunities, pulling down 17 offensive rebounds.
The Tigers kept pace with the Gators for much of the first half, trailing 19-10 with just under 10 minutes remaining the period. Florida's Will Richard gave UF its first double-digit lead of the game after drawing a foul and scoring on a layup with nine minutes left. He converted the free throw to make 22-10.
Trailing 27-15, Dozier drained a 3-pointer to keep push the deficit back to single digits with 7:25 on the clock. After the Gators responded with a trio of free throws, another three from
Antwan Burnett UF's lead to 30-21 with 5:30 to go in the half.
Florida took a 43-28 lead into the locker room.
The Gators snagged its largest lead of the game, 73-45, with 5:35 to play.
GSU put up a valiant effort in the second half but couldn't mount a comeback.
Florida was led by Rueben Chinyelu with a team-high 14 points with three rebounds, two blocks and two steals. The Gators shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64), including going 7-of-23 from three-point range (30.4 percent)
Grambling State was 14-of-17 (82.4 percent) from the free throw line while UF went 21-of-26 (80.8 percent)
UP NEXT
Grambling gets an extended break before heading to Albuquerque, N.M. to take on the University of New Mexico on Nov. 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST and will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network.
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