• Recap
• Bleachers

Walker's layup lifts Gators over Vols

Feb 13, 2011 - 1:37 AM Gainesville, FL (Sports Network) - Erving Walker showed his ability to score in traffic late in the game, hitting a go-ahead layup in the closing seconds to give 17th-ranked Florida a thrilling 61-60 decision over Tennessee.

These SEC rivals went to overtime back on January 11, when Florida claimed a six-point victory. On Saturday, the Gators (20-5, 9-2 SEC) pulled out another tight win, their fourth straight and seventh in eight games overall.

Walker ended with 16 points, while Vernon Macklin and Kenny Boynton both scored 12 in the victory.

Scotty Hopson finished with 22 points, but wasn't a factor in crunch time for the Volunteers (15-10, 5-5) in their third straight loss.

The game was tied three times in a back-and-forth final seven minutes.

A Cameron Tatum bucket gave Tennessee a 60-59 lead with just under a minute to play, and the score stayed the same after Florida's Alex Tyus bricked a pair at the foul line with 30.7 seconds showing.

Tatum, though, returned the favor by missing the front end of a one-and-one with 25.5 seconds left.

Walker then raced down the court along the left side, beat his defender off the dribble and scored over two defenders for a 61-60 cushion with 14 seconds left.

Tennessee opted not to call a timeout, and Melvin Goins dribbled off several precious seconds before settling for a step-back three that fell off the mark just as the buzzer sounded.

Hopson scored 15 points in the first half, three coming on a deep make from the left wing that gave Tennessee a 35-29 lead at the break.

Florida continued to trail in the second stanza before coming to life midway through.

Chandler Parsons, held without a field goal for the first 30 minutes, got a three-pointer to fall to cut the deficit to 47-44, and a pair of buckets from Macklin -- one a hook shot in the lane, the other a dunk coming off a steal -- gave the Gators a one-point lead with 8 1/2 minutes on the clock.

Game Notes

Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl was coaching his second game since serving an eight-game suspension for misleading NCAA investigators...Parsons, Florida's leading rebounder and distributor, hurt his left hip early in the contest and tallied with just three points, three rebounds and no assists...Tyus totaled 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Gators...Brian Williams had 11 points and nine boards off the bench for Tennessee.