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Freshman Koa Peat scored 30 points to lead No. 13 Arizona to a 93-87 win over third-ranked and defending national champion Florida in the Hall of Fame Series on Monday night.
Peat was impressive in his college debut, shooting 11 of 18 from the floor and adding seven rebounds and five assists. He was fouled making a defensive rebound with 14.2 seconds left and hit his two ensuing free throws to seal the victory in both teams’ season opener.
But, it was consecutive dunks by Peat late in the second half that sent the crowd at T-Mobile Arena into a frenzy and punctuated his first college game.
Jaden Bradley was also impressive, scoring 27 points, including 11 of Arizona’s final 18 points, to help seal the win.
Ivan Kharchenkov shook off an injury late in the first half that sent him to the locker room and finished with 12 points for the Wildcats.
Thomas Haugh led Florida with 27 points, Xaivian Lee scored 14 and Alex Condon and Micah Handlogten each had 11.
The Wildcats shot 49.2% (30 of 61) from the field, while Florida’s poor second-half shooting (14 of 38, 36.8%) sealed its fate.
The Gators opened the game strong, pushing their lead to 12 points after hitting 11 of their first 16 shots.
The Wildcats clamped down on defense and held Florida to 5-for-16 shooting the rest of the half while going on a 32-16 run by hitting 11 of 18 shots down the stretch.
Arizona, which shot 50% from the floor in the first half, led 50-46 at halftime.
Next, Florida hosts North Florida on Thursday, and Arizona hosts Utah Tech on Friday.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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