Four Gators scored in double-digits, including a season-high 26 points from junior Kenny Boynton (Pompano Beach, Fla.) to roll past Rider, 90-69, Friday night at the Jacksoville Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. In forty minutes on the floor, the Gators never dropped the lead, to improve to 7-2 on the season, while the Broncs fell to 1-9.
Boynton led both teams with 26 points, just two shy of his career-high, and his highest output since the Gators faced Brigham Young University in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Additionally, the junior added five rebounds and two assists. Freshman guard Bradley Beal (St. Louis, Mo.) added 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal, while senior guard Erving Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and sophomore Patric Young (Jacksonville, Fla.) added 12 points apiece and combined for 13 rebounds, with four and nine, respectively.
Second in the nation with 11 three-pointers per game, Florida hit 13 three’s Friday night in 28 attempts, which saw all three starting guards: Boynton, Beal and Walker combine to go 12 of 23 shots from the three-point range.
Will Yeguette (Bordeau, France) put the Gators on the board just 28 seconds in the first half to start an 8-2 run in the opening minutes of the game. The Gator defense limited the Broncs to fewer than 20 points until Jeff Jones, Riders’ leading scorer in the game, hit a 3-pointer at the 4:39 mark. Florida posted 12 assists to one turnover in the first half, as redshirt junior Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) hit a jumper at the sound of the buzzer to put Florida up 43-27 heading into the locker room.
