No. 2 Florida Holds Off Arkansas Run for 79-72 Victory

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -Taurean Green scored 17 points and Corey Brewer added 13 to lead No. 2 Florida to a 79-72 victory over Arkansas on Tuesday night.

At halftime, the sellout crowd at the O’Connell Center welcomed the Gators football team, which beat Ohio State 41-14 on Monday night in the BCS championship game. That made Florida the first school to hold the national championships in Division I football and basketball at the same time.

The Gators (15-2, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) built an early 12-point lead, then spent the rest of the night holding off the Razorbacks (12-4, 1-1), who briefly took the lead before faltering over the last 10 minutes.

Joakim Noah and Al Horford both scored 11 points for Florida, which has all five starters back from the team that won the school’s first basketball title last spring.

Darian Townes led Arkansas with 18 points, while Sonny Weems finished with 13.

Arkansas coach Stan Heath felt the Razorbacks played their best game of the season in routing Alabama 88-61 last Saturday and hoped his team’s quickness and size inside would help neutralize Florida’s frontcourt of Noah, Horford and Brewer.

With Noah and Horford riding the bench for much of the first half with two fouls, Florida squandered most of an early 12-point lead before settling for a 37-36 halftime lead.

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