Box Score

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mike Rosario scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the first half and No. 8-ranked Florida rebounded from its first loss of the season with an 82-43 win over Southeastern Louisiana in a regionally-televised game Wednesday at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

Michael Frazier came off the bench to score 12 points while Patric Young added 10 as Florida (8-1) opened the game with a 9-2 run while tying a season-high with 10 3-pointers.

Playing its third top-10 opponent since 2002, Southeastern (1-8) tied the game at 2-2 on a basket by Dre Evans at the 17:30 mark of the first half before Florida used a 7-0 run that was capped by an Erik Murphy jumper in the lane for a 9-2 lead with 15:38 remaining.

Southeastern got as close as 9-6 after buckets by Brandon Fortenberry and Onochie Ochie and trailed 14-10 on a dunk by Jeffery Ricard with 12:20 left, but Florida would use a 9-0 run to push its lead to 23-10.

The Lions chipped away at the lead one more time in the half as a pair of free throws by Jamaal James cut the Florida lead to 25-17 with 6:44 remaining before the Gators pulled away for good, taking a 43-26 lead at halftime.

Florida opened the second half with a 7-0 run and held Southeastern scoreless until a bucket by Fortenberry with 13:00 remaining in the game cut the lead to 50-28. The Gators, who finished 28-for-57 (49.1 percent) from the floor and 10-for-32 (31.3 percent) from behind the 3-point line, took their biggest lead of the night in the final minute when Frazier drained a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to close out the scoring.

Southeastern, which returns to action on Dec. 29 in the University Center against Spring Hill College, finished 16-for-55 (29.1 percent) from the floor. Fortenberry scored 15 points to lead Southeastern and became the 17th player in school history to record 1,000 points in his career. His basket with 6:41 remaining increased his career total to 1,001.

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (1-8)
Fortenberry 5-13 4-4 15; Evans 3-7 0-0 6; Nelson 2-7 0-0 6; Benton 2-6 0-0 4; Ochie 2-7 0-0 4; Ricard 1-9 2-2 4; James 0-2 2-2 2; Woods 1-1 0-0 2; Petrovcic 0-2 0-2 0; Campbell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-55 8-10 43.

FLORIDA (8-1)
Rosario 8-13 0-0 20; Frazier 3-7 4-4 12; Young 5-7 0-2 10; Wilbekin 3-6 0-0 9; Prather 3-4 2-2 8; Yeguete 1-2 6-6 8; Boynton 1-7 4-4 7; Murphy 3-7 0-0 6; Graham 1-1 0-0 2; Walker 0-2 0-0 0; Ogbueze 0-1 0-0 0; Kurtz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 16-18 82.

Halftime – UF 43, SLU 26. 3-point goals – SLU 3-21 (Nelson 2-6; Fortenberry 1-5; Benton 0-2; Ochie 0-2; Ricard 0-3; Evans 0-3), UF 10-32 (Rosario 4-8; Wilbekin 3-6; Frazier  2-6; Boynton 1-7; Murphy 0-3; Ogbueze 0-1; Prather 0-1). Fouled out - None. Rebounds – SLU 30 (Three with 5), UF 40 (Three with 6). Assists – (Four with 1), UF 20 (Boynton 5). Total fouls – SLU 12, UF 12. Technical fouls - None. A -8,057.