rewrite this title Clayton’s Curry-like flurry helps Gators escape

SAN FRANCISCO — With Florida on the brink of elimination from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. answered with one of the great clutch performances in school history Saturday to guide the Gators to the Final Four with an 84-79 win against third-seeded Texas Tech.

Clayton scored 13 of his game-high 30 points over the game’s final 5:24, helping the top-seeded Gators erase a 10-point deficit at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors. He was later named the West Region’s Most Outstanding Player.

Clayton’s style of play has drawn comparisons to Warriors guard Stephen Curry in the past, and while neither he, nor Florida coach Todd Golden, wanted to add to that conversation, that Clayton’s heroics occurred in San Francisco made them tough to ignore.

“[Comparing him to Curry] is kind of a lot to put on a young man,” Golden said. “But I’d say the one thing where Walt 100 percent is similar to Steph is their shot-making and their ability to get it off whenever they want.

“Just like the Warriors want Steph to be able to find a way to get open and get those shots in those moments, we want Walt taking the shots for us down the stretch. There’s a reason why he was an AP first-team All-American. He is, in my humble opinion, the best guard in America.”

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With 3:14 left, it looked like Florida would be the first No. 1 seed to be eliminated from the tournament. Texas Tech star JT Toppin scored inside to put the Red Raiders up 9 and the Gators had been unable to score back-to-back buckets the entire second half.

But Thomas Haugh answered with back-to-back 3s for the Gators to cut the deficit to 75-72 with 2:27 left before Clayton took the baton. He also hit back-to-back 3s to give Florida its first lead since early in the half and iced the game in its closing moments with a pair of free throws.

The whole sequence was surreal for Clayton, as he shook off some early-game shooting woes to come through when it mattered.

“Nothing was going through my mind. My mind was blank,” he said. “Thankful those shots went in, but we were locked in until the final buzzer sounded.”

The Gators (34-4) have won 10 straight games and will play the winner of Sunday’s game between Auburn and Michigan State on Saturday in San Antonio. Florida won its only regular-season matchup with SEC rival Auburn 90-81 on Feb. 8.

As much as Clayton’s big 3-pointers mattered for the Gators’ comeback, it was his ability to get to the line that Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said was the difference-maker. Clayton was 13 of 14 from the charity stripe. Florida was 25 of 27 as a team while the Red Raiders made just 7 of 13 free throws.

“That was the part that, honestly, I was disappointed,” McCasland said. “It was just that he got to free the line so much and yeah, he’s a hard cover. He just is so difficult.

“He hurts you in so many different ways. He’s dynamic at shooting, but he’s crafting his change of pace and they do such a good job of moving the ball. We decided we were going to live with those forwards making 3s and that’s what made it difficult. When you’re keying on him and then he’s starting to get fouled and then other guys need to step up and they did.”

Haugh’s two key late 3s were part of his best overall performance as a Gator. The sophomore finished with 20 points off the bench and was a huge spark in the first half.

“The thing about [Haugh] — and it goes for other guys on the roster as well — he’s just a winning player,” Golden said. “He just finds ways to affect the game and to help the team win the most. One of, if not the most unselfish guys out there just being comfortable on the bench when he can be starting pretty much anywhere America.”

San Francisco has become an unlikely city of importance for the Gators. The school plucked coach Todd Golden from the University of San Francisco three years ago, and this week returned to punch its ticket to the Final Four. The last time the Gators went this far in March was in 2014, the second-to-last season under longtime coach Billy Donovan.

For Texas Tech (28-9), the game was somewhat of a role reversal compared to the Sweet 16. In that win against Arkansas, the Red Raiders erased a 16-point second-half deficit to advance, thanks to clutch shooting down the stretch.

This time, despite big nights from Darrion Williams (23 points) and Toppin (20 points), it wasn’t meant to be.