San Antonio, TX-

            The College basketball world ascended onto the Alamo City for the NCAA Men’s Final Four. The first semifinal composed all #1 seeds, for only the second time in NCAA history that all four made it to the National Semifinals. Coincidentally enough, the only other time was in 2008 when San Antonio also hosted.  

In the first semifinal of the evening, the Florida Gators would collide with the Auburn Tigers in a back and forth match-up that remained in doubt until the waning seconds.  

The Gators would erase a nine-point deficit in the second half, spearheaded by Walter Clayton Jr’s., incredible 34-point performance, to advance to the Championship game. Florida would use an 11-0 run led by Clayton Jr and teammate Alijah Martin who would serve as the catalysts. Both connected on three-pointers during their spurt, then Clayton would put in a driving layup to give Florida the edge, 51-49.  

Both teams would trade buckets until Thomas Haugh, would get to the rim with a driving layup, making it a 64-63 edge for the Gators. A lead they would not relinquish.

For Auburn, starting the game hot was forward, Chad Baker-Mazaa. He had 8pts in the initial six minutes of the first half. Baker-Mazara led the Tigers with 18pts on the night. Teammate Johni Broome gave the Tigers fits in the paint early, scoring 12pts and sharing the scoring load with Baker-Mazara. Auburn would lead after the first twenty minutes, 46-38.  

Florida’s defense would adjust in the second half and work to hold Broome to only three points in the second stanza. He would finish with 15 points for the contest.   

Additionally the defense for Florida showed itself in other ways as they forced twelve turnovers and capitalized off the mistakes by turning them into 16 points.
 
Clayton’s 34pts hit a historic mark as only fourteen other players achieved such a mark in the history of the Final Four. The historic performance was accompanied by two other teammates balancing out the attack, Alijah Martin with 17 points and Thomas Haugh with 12 points. 

The backcourt between Clayton and Martin has been in-sync all year and one of the primary reasons why the Gators are having the season, they're having. 

“It's been a great relationship on-and-off the court,” said Clayton “we feed off each other.” 

As momentum was looking to swing in one team's favor, Martin exploded for a dunk, tomahawking the ball over two defenders, bringing the Houston faithful to a raucous reaction. The throw-down could very well be the highlight of the tournament, and helped the Gators surge ahead at the moment, 66-63.
 
The Gators now advance to the National Championship on Monday, where they will play Houston, who rallied and outlasted Duke later in the night. It’s been eighteen years since the Gators have been in the championship game, after winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. They will look to add one more piece of hardware to their trophy case.