Florida wins its 3rd national title, denies Houston its 1st, rallying for 2-point victory

SAN ANTONIO — Florida and Walter Clayton Jr. somehow overcame Houston’s spirit-crushing defense Monday night to will out a 65-63 victory in an NCAA title-game thriller not decided until Clayton’s own D stopped the Cougars from taking a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

Clayton finished with 11 points, all in the second half, but what he’ll be remembered for most was getting Houston’s Emanuel Sharp to stop in the middle of his motion as he tried to go up for the game-winning 3 in the final seconds.

Clayton ran at him, Sharp dropped the ball and, unable to pick it up lest he get called for traveling, watched it bounce there while the clock ticked to zero.

Will Richard had 18 points to keep the Gators (36-4) in it, and they won their third overall title and first since 2007, this time led by third-year coach Todd Golden. The Cougars (35-5) and coach Kelvin Sampson were denied their first championship.

This was a defensive brawl, and for most of the night, Clayton got the worst of it.

He was 0 for 4 from the field without a point through the first half. He didn’t score until 14:57 remained in the game. He finished with one 3-pointer and, before that, a pair of three-point plays that kept the Gators in striking range.

It was Florida’s defense, not Houston’s, that controlled the final minute.

After Alijah Martin made two free throws to put Florida ahead 64-63 — its first lead since 8-6 — the Gators lured Sharp into a triple-team in the corner, where Richard got him to dribble the ball off his leg and out of bounds.

Florida made one free throw on the next possession and that set up the finale. The ball first went to L.J. Cryer — who led the Cougars with 19 points. Blanketed by Richard, he threw to Sharp, who was moving to spot up for a 3 when Clayton ran at him. That left him with no choice but to let the ball go.

Sampson, who designed a defense that held Florida under 70 points for only the second time this season, looked on in shock.

Instead of the 69-year-old becoming the oldest coach to win the title, the 39-year-old Golden becomes the youngest since N.C. State’s Jim Valvano in 1983 to win it all.

The Gators trailed by 12 points early in the second half, and Clayton wasn’t the only one getting frustrated.

The Florida bench got a technical during a quick span of three foul calls in less than a minute. Later in the second half, Houston’s smothering defense baited Rueben Chinyelu into a technical after committing a foul.

But that wasn’t enough. Houston ends up at the same place as the Phi Slama Jama teams of the 1980s — in second place, but memorable.

This gut-wrenching loss came two nights after the Cougars fashioned a wild comeback of their own, from 14 down against Duke.

All three Final Four games were decided down the stretch, none by more than six. Any thought that the men’s game had been overtaken by the increasingly popular women will probably go on hold at least for a year.

The three women’s Final Four games, capped by UConn’s blowout of South Carolina on Sunday, were decided by an average of 24.7 points.