Auburn Basketball's Season Ends to Florida, Walter Clayton Jr. in Final Four

The winningest season in Auburn men's basketball history won't get a fairytale finish.

Led by senior guard Walter Clayton Jr., Florida surged past the Tigers in the second half, taking a 79-73 victory on Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Clayton, a first-team All-SEC guard, led all scorers with 34 points. He finished an and-one layup with a minute and a half remaining to give the Gators a 6-point lead, and another and-one from sophomore forward Thomas Haugh pushed Florida in front by 8 points with less than 40 seconds left.

Auburn never trimmed the margin back to one possession, and a season headlined by a program-record 32 regular season wins ultimately fell short of the Tigers' first ever NCAA Championship game appearance.

Senior wing Chad Baker-Mazara led the way for Auburn, scoring 18 points. Senior forward Johni Broome, the SEC Player of the Year, added 15 points, but he didn't score over the final 15 minutes. Senior guard Denver Jones notched 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting.

The Tigers shot 43.9% from the field and 28% from beyond the arc. The Gators, conversely, connected at a 47.2% clip overall and went 8 of 21 from distance.

Senior guard Alijah Martin joined Clayton in double figures for Florida, scoring 17 points. Haugh tallied 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Auburn, which led by as many as 9 points in the first half, carried a 46-38 lead into the locker room. The Tigers dominated inside, outscoring Florida 26-14 in the paint. Auburn shot 51.5% from the field and committed only two turnovers en route to its 8-point edge.

But the Gators quickly fought back. Led by 5 points from Clayton, Florida rode an 11-0 run to a 51-49 advantage with 15 and a half minutes remaining.

The two sides traded punches the rest of the way home -- neither led by more than 4 points between the 17-minute mark and Clayton's and-one with 90 seconds left.

And in a game full of counters, the Gators threw the knockout blow, outscoring the Tigers 41-27 in the second half.

Florida faces the winner of Saturday night's game between Duke and Houston at 8:50 p.m. Monday in the Alamodome. Auburn, meanwhile, is left to relish in the heights it reached -- but only after grasping how close it came to glory.