Florida dispatches Marquette to advance to West Regional final

Reporting from Phoenix -- The NCAA West Regional got an unexpected bonus Thursday night with Florida’s 68-58 victory over Marquette at US Airways Center.

The second semifinal upset of the night sets up a Saturday regional final pitting Florida Coach Billy Donovan against Louisville’s Rick Pitino.

The pupil vs. mentor matchup was made possible when both lower-seeded schools in the West prevailed. Not long after No. 4 Louisville knocked top-seeded Michigan State out, No. 7 Florida eliminated No. 3 Marquette.

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FOR THE RECORD:

The keydeck on an earlier version of this story misidentified the Marquette Golden Eagles as the Marquette Warriors.

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Donovan was the star guard and Pitino the young coach when Providence made a run to the Final Four in 1987. Donovan later joined Pitino’s staff at Kentucky, and that paved the path for Donovan’s career at Florida.

“Outside of my parents, he’s been the most influential person in my life,” Donovan said after the win.

Donovan, however, said the game “is really about the players.”

Florida (26-10) led by six at the half and slowly built on it. Bradley Beal’s corner three-point basket out of a timeout put the Gators up by 12 with 14 minutes 24 seconds left. Erik Murphy’s layup a minute later extended the lead to 14.

Was the game over? No. Marquette (27-8) crawled back and cut the lead to six, 58-52, on Todd Mayo’s three-pointer with 3:13 left.

Kenny Boynton hit five clutch free throws in the final 1:15 to help put Florida up 10, and the Gators held on.

Marquette had no answer for Beal, Florida’s freshman guard, who finished with 21 points, six rebounds and four assists. He made eight of his 10 shots.

“That’s a heck of line,” Marquette Coach Buzz Williams said after a look at the final stat sheet.

Beal said he was surprisingly comfortable on a national stage.

“Before the game I’m aware of the stage,” Beal said. “But after the ball is thrown in the air I block everything out.”

Florida is now one victory from becoming the first seventh-seeded team to advance to the Final Four since the tournament was expanded in 1985.

Florida lost 10 games during the regular season, but consider that it lost three times to one team: Kentucky.

Thursday’s second game was fast-paced and in stark contrast to Michigan State and Louisville.

Florida and Marquette are athletic teams that try to beat you down the court. Florida averaged 76.3 points per game to Marquette’s 75.9.

The Gators had not been tested in the tournament, beating Virginia and Norfolk State by a combined 60 points. Florida became the first team in tournament history to score 70 points and allow 50 or fewer in its first two games.

Marquette advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 20-point win over Brigham Young and a nine-point victory against Murray State.