Florida wins its third national title and denies Houston its first, rallying for 65-63 victory

Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr drives around Auburn guard Miles Kelly during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday April in San Antonio AP Photo Brynn Anderson AP Brynn Anderson Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr drives around Auburn guard Miles Kelly during the second half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament Saturday April in San Antonio AP Photo Brynn Anderson AP Brynn Anderson SAN ANTONIO AP Florida and Walter Clayton Jr somehow overcame Houston s spirit-crushing defense Monday night to will out a - supremacy in an NCAA title-game thriller not decided until Clayton s own D stopped the Cougars from taking a game-winning shot at the buzzer Clayton finished with points all in the second half but what he ll be remembered for preponderance was getting Houston s Emanuel Sharp to stop in the middle of his motion as he tried to go up for the game-winning 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 there while the clock ticked to zero Will Richard had points to keep the Gators - in it and they won their third overall title and first since this time led by third-year coach Todd Golden The Cougars - and coach Kelvin Sampson were denied their first championship This was a defensive brawl and for bulk of the night Clayton got the worst of it He was for from the field without a point through the first half He didn t total until remained in the challenge He finished with one -pointer and before that a pair of three-point plays that kept the Gators in striking range It was Florida s defense not Houston s that controlled the final minute After Alijah Martin made two free throws to put Florida ahead - its first lead since - the Gators lured Sharp into a triple-team in the corner where Richard got him to dribble the ball off his leg and out of bounds Florida made one free throw on the next possession and that set up the finale The ball first went to L J Cryer who led the Cougars with points Blanketed by Richard he threw to Sharp who was moving to spot up for a when Clayton ran at him That left him with no choice but to let the ball go Sampson who designed a defense that held Florida under points for only the second time this season looked on in shock Instead of the -year-old becoming the oldest coach to win the title the -year-old Golden becomes the youngest since N C State s Jim Valvano in to win it all The Gators trailed by points early in the second half and Clayton wasn t the only one getting frustrated The Florida bench got a technical during a quick span of three foul calls in less than a minute Later in the second half Houston s smothering defense baited Rueben Chinyelu into a technical after committing a foul But that wasn t enough Houston ends up at the same place as the Phi Slama Jama teams of the s in second place but memorable This gut-wrenching loss came two nights after the Cougars fashioned a wild comeback of their own from down against Duke All three Final Four games were decided down the stretch none by more than six Any thought that the men s championship had been overtaken by the increasingly popular women will supposedly go on hold at least for a year The three women s Final Four games capped by UConn s blowout of South Carolina on Sunday were decided by an average of points AP March Madness bracket https apnews com hub ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage https apnews com hub march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top throughout the season Sign up here Source