Walter Clayton Jr. rallies Florida into Final Four with 84-79 March Madness win over Texas Tech

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Walter Clayton jr. Saved the top seed Florida by two late 3-points, and the Gators scored from nine points on Saturday to make the Final Four with a 84-79 victory over Texas Tech in the NCAA tournament in the Western Region on Saturday.

The Gators (34-4) walked behind 75-66 with less than three minutes to play before performing a raging rally against the third seed Red Raiders (28-9), who did the same in the sweat 16 against Arkansas.

Clayton dribbles out of the paint and skips a Fadeeaway 3 with 59 seconds to give Florida a 78-77 lead, and the Gators kept going from there to their first final since 2014 in the third season of Coach Todd Golden. Florida will face the South Region Champion – either Auburn or Michigan State – next Saturday in San Antonio.

The return gave a happy ending to Golden’s return to the Bay area, where he played at Saint Mary’s at university and got his start as head coach in San Francisco.

While the final horn sounds, Golden turns to the Gators fans and pumps his fist as his players out to the track to celebrate a win that looked unlikely a few minutes before.

Clayton, who started his university career at Iona, scored 30 points to lead the hole. Thomas Haugh added 20 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.

Haugh began the return with two 3-points. Clayton then tied it up with his Long Range lap after Texas Tech missed a second straight front of a one-one.

After Darrius Williams scored low for Texas Tech, Clayton’s last 3 Florida was ahead, and the Gators sealed it on the fault line.

Williams missed two 3s. He sank the basket basket late on Thursday night in the regulation and the winner of the game in the closing seconds of overtime against Arkansas.

Texas Tech only had a short time of the second Final Four trip ever after being on the wrong side of a return in the late match. The Red Raiders agreed in the last five minutes of 13 points to beat the Razorbacks in the sweat 16.

Williams scored 23 points to lead Texas Tech and JT Toppin added 20.

The match was mostly accurate, with none of the team building an lead greater than six points for the first 30 minutes, as Texas Tech used turnover and second -way points and Florida repeatedly came to the error. Clayton made twice at 3-points early in the second half, leading to five points on the six dirty shots.

The Red Raiders went on a 12-2 run to get up with 10, but could not hold.

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AP March Madness Bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-Bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get polls and updates on the AP Top 25 during the entire season. Sign up here.

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