Boston College No Match for Florida, 91-65 : College basketball: Hill comes back from suspension to lead Gators in Great Eight event.

Dametri Hill, suspended from Florida’s first game for disciplinary reasons, scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half Tuesday night as the eighth-ranked Gators beat Boston College 91-65 in the opening game of the Great Eight Basketball Festival.

Boston College (1-1), which shot 55 percent in its season-opener, shot only 33 percent against the bigger, stronger Gators. Andrew DeCler added 18 points for Florida (2-0) before fouling out with 5:01 remaining.

Hill, who shed almost 25 pounds to get down to 290 pounds during the offseason, took command almost from the opening tip, scoring the first five points for the Gators.

The Eagles, who learned shortly before the game that highly recruited freshman Chris Herren would miss the season with a wrist injury, were out of contention early. They turned the ball over 11 times in the first 20 minutes and shot just 29 percent in the half.

Antonio Granger led the Eagles with 12 points.

The Gators, who defeated BC 74-66 last March in the NCAA East Regional to advance to the Final Four, got eight points from Hill and six from DeCler in a 20-7 burst that gave them a 29-17 lead with 7:53 left in the half. They led 43-25 at halftime.

Florida finished off the Eagles with a 17-4 spurt to open the second half, taking a 60-29 lead with 14:00 remaining. Brian Thompson had five of his 11 points in the run.

Seven regional finalists from last season’s NCAA tournament and Connecticut, a replacement for national champion Arkansas, were scheduled to play doubleheaders Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

The inaugural event, contracted to run at least three years, continued Tuesday night with No. 6 Duke facing No. 16 Connecticut in the nightcap.

On Wednesday night, it will be Purdue against Missouri and No. 9 Arizona facing No. 17 Michigan.