A furious Florida comeback has yielded the Gators a national championship on the basketball floor.
Despite leading for less than two minutes total of gametime, Florida defeated Houston 65-63 in the NCAA men's basketball national championship game on Monday.
Will Richard paced the Gators with 18 points as Alex Condon and Walter Clayton Jr. followed with 12 and 11. Guard L.J. Cryer led the way for Houston in defeat, collecting 19 points and hitting four 3-pointers.
The Cougars led by 12 with less than 16 minutes to play, but an 8-0 Gator run cut the edge to three points before they knotted the contest at 48 with under eight minutes remaining. After a long series of exchanged baskets and free throws, Florida took its first lead since it was up 8-6 in the first half on an Alijah Martin free throw that made it 64-63 with 46 seconds to play.
Only one more point was scored from there as Houston failed to get up a shot on its final possession.
It's the third national championship in school history for Florida, joining national titles from the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Tournaments. It's the third time Houston has finished as NCAA runner-up, as the Cougars are still searching for their first title in program history.
