Clayton Jr. rallies Florida into Final Four

SAN FRANCISCO — Walter Clayton Jr. rescued top-seeded Florida with two late 3-pointers, and the Gators rallied from nine points down late to reach the Final Four with an 84-79 victory over Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region final on Saturday.

The Gators (34-4) trailed 75-66 with less than three minutes to play before staging a furious rally against the third-seeded Red Raiders (28-9), who had done the same in the Sweet 16 against Arkansas.

Clayton dribbled out of the paint and hit a fadeaway 3 with 59 seconds left to give Florida a 78-77 lead, and the Gators held on from there to advance to their first Final Four since 2014 in coach Todd Golden’s third season. Florida will face the South Region champion — either Auburn or Michigan State — next Saturday in San Antonio.

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

As the final horn sounded, Golden turned to the Gators fans and demonstrably pumped his fist as his players rushed out to the court to celebrate a victory that looked improbable just a few minutes earlier.

Clayton, who began his college career at Iona, scored 30 points to lead the Gators. Thomas Haugh added 20 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.

Haugh started the comeback with two 3-pointers. Clayton then tied it with his shot from long range after Texas Tech missed a second straight front end of a one-and-one.

After Darrius Williams scored down low for Texas Tech, Clayton’s last 3 put Florida ahead to stay, and the Gators sealed it at the foul line.

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

Texas Tech fell just short of its second Final Four trip ever after being on the wrong side of a late-game comeback. The Red Raiders rallied from 13 points in the final five minutes to beat the Razorbacks in the Sweet 16.

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

The game was tight most of the way with neither team able to build a lead bigger than six points for the first 30 minutes as Texas Tech capitalized on turnovers and second-chance points and Florida repeatedly got to the foul line. Clayton got fouled twice on 3-pointers early in the second half, leading to five points on the six foul shots.

The Red Raiders went on a 12-2 run to go up by 10 but couldn’t hold on late.

DUKE 85, ALABAMA 65

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Duke’s stream of long, tall NBA-ready standouts smothered Alabama and papered over Cooper Flagg’s rough shooting night to lift the Blue Devils to the program’s 18th Final Four with an 85-65 victory Saturday night in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region final.

Flagg made only 6 of 16 shots, including a brick that got stuck in the flange of the rim, but still finished with 16 points. Kon Knueppel, another potential lottery pick, led the Blue Devils with 21 points.

But the most important stat: Alabama’s nation-leading offense, one coming off a record-setting night from 3 in the Sweet 16, shot 8 for 32 from behind the arc, 35.4% overall and failed to crack 70 for only the second time this season.

Mark Sears, who came one short of a tournament record with 10 3s two nights earlier, finished with one and only six points against the Blue Devils (35-3), who won their 15th straight.

At the Final Four in San Antonio, top-seeded Duke will play the winner of Sunday’s game between Houston and Tennessee. Its win erased any chance of an all-Southeastern Conference show at the Final Four, but with No. 1 Florida winning earlier, it kept alive the prospect of all four top seeds playing on the sport’s biggest stage for only the second time.