Florida Doubles Its Fun in Romp

It was a mismatch for Florida’s record book.

Brett Nelson scored a career-high 22 points and was one of eight Florida players to score in double figures Sunday as the eighth-ranked Gators beat Florida A&M;, 125-50, at Gainesville, Fla.

The 75-point margin of victory was the biggest in school history and it was also the first time the Gators had eight players score 10 or more points in a game.

“This was good for our basketball team as far as our chemistry and getting better,” Florida Coach Billy Donovan said. “Collectively, this game is the best our guards have played all season long at one time. When I look at this basketball game, I don’t really get caught up on the score as much as I’m looking at what are these guys doing offensively. Are they doing things that we’ll be able to do against the Tennessees, Kentuckys and people of that nature?”

Udonis Haslem scored 19 points for Florida (5-1), while Major Parker had 18.

Florida’s biggest lead was 125-45 in the game’s final minute.

OTHER GAMES

Ken Johnson scored 16 points and blocked nine shots but Ohio State (5-2) needed Brent Darby’s two free throws with less than a second left to secure a 54-51 victory over Massachusetts (1-5) at Columbus, Ohio. . . . Rasual Butler scored 26 points on nine-for-11 shooting had 11 rebounds to lead La Salle (4-3) to a 62-44 victory over Northwestern (3-3) at Philadelphia.

WOMEN

Shea Ralph scored 24 points as top-ranked Connecticut (7-0)--with a 97-55 victory overIllinois (3-5)--gave Coach Geno Auriemma his 400th career victory at Champaign, Ill. Auriemma is 400-95 in 16 seasons as coach at Connecticut, making him the 30th coach in women’s college basketball to reach 400 wins. . . . Ashley Robinson and Gwen Jackson each scored 14 points to make up for Tamika Catchings’ two-point game as No. 2 Tennessee (7-0) beat No. 12 Louisiana Tech (7-3), 70-62, at Ruston, La. . . . Kelly Miller had 19 points and three teammates scored in double figures as No. 5 Georgia (7-2) overpowered Houston (4-4), 92-61, at Athens, Ga. . . . Tasha Pointer scored 22 points and No. 9 Rutgers (6-1) rallied from an eight-point deficit with a stunning 28-0 run to beat Massachusetts (3-5), 78-57, at Amherst, Mass. . . . Lisa Shepherd sank a three-pointer with 8.7 seconds left to give No. 13 Penn State (5-3) a 77-76 victory over No. 23 Vanderbilt (6-2) at State College, Pa. . . . Marie Ferdinand scored 20 points to lead No. 17 Louisiana State (4-3) to a 68-61 victory over Tulane (4-5) at Baton Rouge, La.