LAKELAND — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half, Tyrese Samuel had a key rebound and dunk in the closing seconds and Florida beat East Carolina 70-65 on Thursday night in the Florida Tip-Off.
“First half, I just felt a little good out there and my teammates were finding me, so I give some credit to them,” Clayton said. “They were just finding me, and the shots were going in.”
Florida had its lead trimmed to 67-65 with 1:06 remaining. The Gators missed their next three 3-pointers, but Samuel hustled for an offensive rebound and dunked it with 19.9 seconds left for a four-point lead. East Carolina didn’t hit the rim on a 3-point attempt and Alex Condon made 1 of 2 free throws to seal it.
The Gators outrebounded the Pirates 51-32, including 21-10 on the offensive end. Samuel, coming off his third double-double of the season, had seven rebounds to go with 11 points.
Zyon Pullin also scored 11 points for Florida (7-3). Will Richard added 10 points and Condon grabbed 12 rebounds.
Clayton set the tone.
“He’s the kind of guy that as a coach gives you confidence when you’re out on the floor,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “When you have guys that, they believe, they trust, and they don’t get rattled. Him and ZP did a really good job of that tonight. It wasn’t going our way a lot of the second half, but those two guys and Will, they didn’t point fingers.
“They were just staying the course, talking to each other, trying to pump each other up. You can live with yourself losing a game like that with these two guys out there that are fighting and have their competitive nature in the right place.”
Ezra Ausar and RJ Felton each scored 14 points for East Carolina (6-5). Brandon Johnson had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Bobby Pettiford Jr. added 11 points before being helped off the floor with 45.8 seconds left.
Clayton’s 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting helped Florida take a 37-30 lead into the break.
East Carolina got as close as 62-61 in the second half on a jumper from the free-throw line by Cam Hayes — his first make of the game.
It marked the first meeting between the Florida and East Carolina men’s basketball programs.
Florida travels to Charlotte, N.C., to face Michigan on Tuesday in the Jumpman Invitational.
East Carolina returns home for a matchup with Delaware State on Wednesday.