Golden's boys fend off Cougars' attack to clinch NCAA title

SAN ANTONIO — Florida's Walter Clayton Jr came up with the perfect going-away present for that spirit-crushing Houston defense that bullied, battered and bedeviled him all night.

It was a defensive gem of his own. Right before the buzzer. For the win and the national title.

The Gators and Clayton somehow overcame Houston's lock-down intensity Monday night to grind out a 65-63 victory in an NCAA title-game thriller, which was decided when the Florida senior's own D stopped the Cougars from taking a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

Clayton finished with 11 points, all in the second half, but what he'll be remembered for most was getting Houston's Emanuel Sharp to stop in the middle of his motion, as he tried to go up for the game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds.

Clayton ran at him, Sharp dropped the ball and, unable to pick it up lest he get called for traveling, watched it bounce. Alex Condon dived on the ball, then flipped it to Clayton, who ran to the opposite free-throw line with the buzzer sounding and tugged his jersey out of his shorts. Next, the court was awash with Gator chomps and orange and blue confetti.

"Our motto is, 'we all can go'," Clayton said. "We've got a team full of guys that can go. It ain't just about me. My team held me down until I was able to put the ball in the basket. Shout out to them boys."

The Gators (36-4) trailed by 12 in the second half. They led this game for a total of 64 seconds, including the last 46 ticks of a game that was in limbo until the final shot that never came.

Will Richard had 18 points to keep the Gators in it, and they won their third overall title, and first since Billy Donovan went back-to-back in 2006-07.

This time, it's third-year coach Todd Golden bringing the title back to Gainesville, which celebrates a win on one of college sports' grandest stages for the first time since Tim Tebow was playing quarterback for the football team in 2008.

The Cougars (35-5) and coach Kelvin Sampson were denied their first championship, and ended up in the same spot as those Phi Slama Jama teams from the 1980s — oh-so-close, but, ultimately, second best.