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Caldwell-Pope sparks upset over No. 12 Florida
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ATHENS — Freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 18 points, Gerald Robinson added 15 and Georgia snapped No. 12 Florida's three-game winning streak with a 76-62 victory Saturday.

The Gators, who never led in the game, trailed by double digits most of the second half. They whittled the lead to five points on Kenny Boynton's 3-pointer with 1:53 remaining.

Georgia (13-15, 4-10 Southeastern Conference) scored the next six points as Dustin Ware and Donte' Williams both made two free throws and Caldwell-Pope followed with a breakaway dunk to make it 73-62.

Florida (22-7, 10-4) is second, one game ahead of Vanderbilt in the SEC. Bradley Beal scored 19 points for the Gators, who close the regular season next week at Vanderbilt and at home against No. 1 Kentucky

Florida had won 10 of 12 overall and had taken of 15 of 17 against Georgia, including three straight.

They held the Bulldogs to 48 points in a 22-point victory in Gainesville on Jan. 10, but Georgia got 12 points from Nemanja Djurisic and 11 each from Williams and Ware.

With Georgia leading 63-53, the Gators had three chances to cut the lead to single digits, but Boynton missed a layup, Erving Walker's 3-point attempt never touched the rim and Patric Young committed a turnover before Robinson's free throws made it 65-53 with 2:51 remaining.

The Gators missed 13 of their first 16 shots from the field before Boynton's 3 cut the lead to 19-11 midway through the first half. Beal's layup brought Florida within three at the 2:48 mark, but Georgia went on a 10-2 run to make it 36-25 in the final minute of the half.

Walker scored 14 points and Boynton added 11 for Florida, which was assessed a technical foul for dunking in pregame warmups and trailed 2-0 on the two free throws by Robinson before tipoff.

Caldwell-Pope combined with Robinson to score 21 of Georgia's 36 first-half points.

Georgia began the game ranked last in the SEC in scoring, but finished 15 points above its average. Florida was 15 points under its SEC-leading average.

The Gators, who played their first game without top reserve Will Yeguette after the sophomore forward broke his left foot Tuesday against Auburn, were just 5 of 23 on 3-point attempts. They began the game leading the nation with an average of 10.3 3-pointers per game.

 

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