Gators ride Castleton’s huge half past No

GAINESVILLE, Fla.– Colin Castleton is accustomed to being double-teamed each time he touches the ball, so he was pleasantly surprised– maybe even totally stunned– when Tennessee chose to secure him with a single protector in the 2nd half.

“I’ve got to take advantage of that,” Castleton said.He did.Castleton scored a game-high 20 points, consisting of 16 in the 2nd half, and Florida upended the second-ranked Volunteers 67-54 on Wednesday night.Kyle Lofton added 14 points for the Gators, who

provided coach Todd Golden his most substantial success in his first season in Gainesville. It was Florida’s 2nd Quadrant 1 win in the previous two weeks.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated The Volunteers, having fun with their greatest ranking in 4 years, lost for the first

time in 5 games. They had actually won 9 of 10. They became the 10th various AP top-two school to lose a game this season, snapping a tie with the 1982-83 and 2002-03 seasons for the most such groups to lose while in the leading two in AP Survey history”Our people are dissatisfied,”Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.”We’re better than this, but tonight we weren’t.”Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 SEC)looked

like it had actually taken control midway through the second half. It outscored Florida by 10 points in the early going to take a six-point lead.But the Gators(13-9, 6-3) stormed back behind Castleton, who scored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk, two complimentary throws, a three-point play, a layup and a brief jumper– essentially putting the team on his pull back the stretch.”They went small, and I felt like I had an inequality,”Castleton said.Myreon Jones and Will Richard broke in nine points apiece for the Gators.Zakai Zeigler led the Vols with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting.

Olivier Nkamhoua included 11 points and 9 rebounds for the visitors, who likewise got 11

points and 8 boards from Santiago Vescovi.The Gators were red hot to begin the game, making 6 of their first eight shots– consisting of all 3 from 3-point variety– while developing a 17-4 benefit. However they rapidly cooled versus the country’s best defense, missing 9 of their next 11 as Tennessee sufficed to 22-21. The Vols had it going coming out of the locker room, with Zeigler entering into the paint and making things happen. But it was short-term, thanks mostly to Castleton.”We provided an opportunity to begin believing in what they’re doing, and they took it,” Barnes

said.Information from ESPN Stats & Details and The Associated Press was used in this report.