Clayton leads Florida to the match for the NCAA title, marking 34 points in 79-73 victory on the dry rival auburn

San Antonio (AP) – Walter Clayton Jr. organizes a NCAA tournament for ages. Florida now needs him to deliver once again.

To face Houston in the title for the title Monday evening at the Alamodome, the Gators finally have a shot in another national championship after another special performance of their all-American guard.

Clayton scored 34 points with five 3 points, giving it the first consecutive matches of 30 points also in the tournament from Larry Bird, and Florida beat the rival of the southeast conference Auburn 79-73 in the Final Four on Saturday evening. The Gators are going to the national championship match for the first time since their titles in 2006 and 2007.

“Clayton was the difference. He simply made the difference,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “We could not contain it on this end.”

No team has the top scorer of this NCAA tournament. He is the first player with 30-point matches both The Elite Eight and in the semi-finals since Bird for the State of Indiana in 1979, according to ESPN statistics.

“He is ready, calm and collected, confident in himself. We have this self-confidence,” said Will Richard, Gators goalkeeper. “We see him practice, see his work ethics. We are happy that everyone can see him do it in a game. ”

The Gators (35-4) went so far after Clayton rallied them twice in this tournament. He scored 13 of his 23 points in the last eight minutes in a 77-75 victory in the second round has ended the pursuit by UCONN of a third consecutive national titleThen had two 3 from the end of the 3 last Sunday when they came from nine points down with less than three minutes to play to Beat Texas Tech.

“I used to see it put the ball put in the basket, I suppose,” said Gators coach Todd Golden. “But he did what he did all year round for us. In the great moments, intensified, struck huge shots, installed our team and made winning games when we needed it most.”

Clayton had a driving lay-up with 2:24 to do in the national semi-finals, in possession just after the great Australian man Alex Condon made an accusation against Johni Broome, the Another player in America In the game – and who was dealing with a right -winged elbow.

The first dry confrontation in a Final Four ended with Clayton chasing a loose rebound and stunning it so that the chronometer came out of the victory. When he started going back to the field, his teammate Alijah Martin looked at him at the end line nodding his head with a smile to greet him.

“We are just together on the field and off the field,” said Clayton.

After a 14 -sec team record made this NCAA tournament, seven arrived at Sweet 16 before the League composed half of the elite eight, then this Final Four filled with standard heads 1.

Florida will have the chance on Monday evening to win the first title of the dry since Kentucky in 2012, the only one since the Gators won consecutive seasons. They take a sequence of 11 consecutive victories in the title champion match against Houston, a winner of 70-67 against Duke in the second semi-final.

Martin, who played in the Final Four with Fau two years ago, added 17 points for the Gators. Thomas Haugh had 12.

The Tigers, in their second Final Four with Pearl, were the highest Global seeded and had an eight-point lead at halftime.

“Auburn had us on our heels in the first half, but we went out with an excellent start and we did not look back,” said Golden, 39, who joined Pearl’s first staff in Auburn in 2014.

Florida opened the second half with a 13-3 race, with Clayton capping this with a lay-up after the flight of Rueben Chinyelu. This put the Gators 51-49 with 15 1/2 minutes on the left.

After eight changes in advance and six links at 11:02 am of the match, Auburn extended to a lead of nine points before half-time, and led to the end of Florida with 11 consecutive points. There were 15 lead changes and 10 links.

Chad Baker-Mazara, with his partially wrapped left hand because of a thumb problem, led Auburn with 18 points, including four 3 points. Broome finished with 15 points on 6 shots out of 14 and achieved seven rebounds – he had only three points after half -time in the Tigers’ second defeat against Florida this season.

Broome was leaning even before the final buzzer, then was surrounded by cameras to capture his reaction. He finally got up to shake hands, then left the terrain with the red eyes crying – pulling his jersey to wipe his face while the cameras continued to follow his outing.

Baker-Mazara and Broome were both injured in the Win on the state of Michigan Last Sunday, it sent the tigers in the Final Four. Broome’s right elbow clumsily leaned up during a hard fall in the second half, and in the last four, it bore a sort of point on his arm covered with a sleeve.

“My elbow felt good in the game. Obviously, here and there, it disturbed me a little. But, I mean, nothing with which I could not play,” said Broome. “I feel like we had the look we wanted to get. I couldn’t capitalize and finish them. “

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