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No. 16 Florida gets past Southern

Nov 19, 2013 - 3:08 AM Gainesville, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Patric Young scored 12 points with six rebounds and three blocks as No. 16 Florida beat Southern, 67-53, on Monday.

Casey Prather and DeVon Walker both chipped in 10 points for the Gators (3-1), who led for all but the opening minute of the game.

Southern (1-4) opened the scoring on Calvin Godfrey's jumper, but the Gators went on a 12-2 run keyed by freshman Kasey Hill's six straight points in just over a minute.

Godfrey led all scorers with 18 points and Trelun Banks, son of Southern coach Roman Banks, added 12 points in the loss.

Southern's Yondarius Johnson made a 3-pointer with 9:14 left in the opening half to pull within eight, 21-13, but that was the last time the deficit was single-digits.

Florida answered with a quick 6-0 run with 6:19 left in the first for a 27-13 advantage, and Young made a layup four minutes later to give the Gators their largest lead of the half, 33-17.

Each team traded a bucket in the final minute and Florida led by a 16-point margin, 35-19, at halftime.

The Gators stretched the lead to 41-21 right out of the break after a Dorian Finney-Smith free throw, but Florida lost a key contributor in the process.

Early in the stanza, Hill, a former McDonald's All-American, rolled his ankle and was in obvious pain as he was taken off the court. He did not return to the contest with what the team is calling a high left ankle sprain.

Florida now has some trouble when it comes to depth in the backcourt if the injury to Hill is serious because senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin was suspended indefinitely for violating team rules prior to the season.

Johnson hit another three later in the half to cut Florida's lead to 56-41, but seven straight from Florida gave the Gators their largest lead of the game.

Southern chipped away late to cut the lead to the final margin, which was the slimmest lead Florida possessed since late in the first half.

Game Notes

Hill scored eight points, all in the first half, before exiting with the ankle injury ... Florida outrebounded Southern, 43-29, including 18 on the offensive glass ... The Jaguars shot 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from beyond the arc and 14- of-25 (56 percent) from the free throw line.