AT THE BUZZER

FLORIDA 76, No. 9 LSU 73

UF senior center Kevarrius Hayes fights for a rebound during Friday's SEC Tournament quarterfinal action. (Photo: Carly Mackler/UAA Communications)

Freshman point guardswished a 3-point shot with one second left and the Gators stormed back from a double-digit second-half deficit to upset top-seeded and ninth-ranked LSU in Friday's quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena. The decisive play came 12 seconds after Tigers 6-foot-11, 255-pound center, with 26 points and 14 rebounds, swished a 3 to tie the game at 73 all with 13.5 seconds remaining. LSU took a timeout to set its defense. UF freshman forwardpassed an open 3 from the right wing, then drove into the paint. Instead of challenging the Tigers' bigs, Johnson wheeled and fired a pass to Nembhard, who walked into a perfect rhythm 3-ball that hit nothing but net. LSU's desperation long-ball play had no chance, and the Gators beat the SEC regular-season champions for the second time in three meetings this season, all three of them going down to the final possession (the first two in overtime). Nembhard finished with a career-high 20 points, including 3-for-4 from the 3-point line (all int he second half), to go with six assists and no turnovers in 37 minutes. Johnson, a day after becoming the first UF freshman in 19 years to card a double-double in the SEC Tournament, did it again with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four steals, overcoming an 0-for-5 afternoon from the free-throw line. Florida trailed by as many as 13 in the first half on the way to getting pulverized 26-10 on points in the paint. The LSU lead was 35-25 at the half, but an 11-2 run by UF midway through the second period made things interesting. When(13 points) hit two free throws with 6:05 to go, the Gators led, 58-57, and things were really interesting. The lead, though, was short-lived, as Reid followed his own miss with a dunk, then after a stop at UF's end,hit a driving layup to go up three. That's when things got insane, as the Gators scored six points on a single possession, thanks to a technical on the LSU bench to set up the wild finish that featured three lead changes and two ties inside the final 3:45.Over 24 hours, Florida went from a precarious "bubble" team to a rock-solid NCAA Tournament at-large candidate. Thursday's win over Arkansas probably got the Gators (likely into the Dayton "play-in" scenario), but a second defeat of SEC regular-season champion LSU certainly did the trick, giving UF a fourth "Quadrant-1" victory and a record of 7-12 in Q-1 and Q-2 games. The Gators, meanwhile, will play a weekend tournament game for the first time since 2014, when they won the whole thing as the event's No. 1 seed and No. 1-ranked team in the country on the way to the Final Four.Take a bow, Andrew and Keyontae, two freshmen who have been as fabulous as any this week in the Music City.When's the last time you saw a six-point possession? The Gators got one when Johnson hit a 3-ball and Reid was called for a foul away from the ball to give(11 points, 8 rebounds) two free throw. LSU's bench protested the call and was hit with a technical.(12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) made both. Then Hayes stepped to the line and made one of two free throws. Could've been a seven-point possession. After shooting 34.5 percent and going just 2-for-15 from deep in the first half, the Gators shot nearly 59 percent in the second half, including 6-for-13 from distance.Florida (19-14), now playing with "house money" regarding its NCAA Tournament hopes, will face either fourth-seeded South Carolina (16-15) or fifth-seeded Auburn (23-9) in Saturday's semifinal, with the winner advancing to the tournament championship game Sunday.