ATHENS, Ga. – Clemson transfer RJ Godfrey scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds and Silas Demary Jr. added 17 points to help Georgia beat North Florida 90-77 Tuesday night at the Peach State Classic.
Vanderbilt transfer Tyrin Lawrence scored 15, and freshman Asa Newell, a consensus five-star recruit, had 13 points and eight rebounds for Georgia. Blue Cain added 11 points and Dakota Leffew, an all-Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference selection last season at Mount St. Mary’s, scored 10.
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Godfey, who helped the Tigers make a run to the NCAA Tournament's Elite 8 last season, made a basket in the paint to open the scoring and Georgia (3-0) never trailed. Lawrence and Leffew hit 3-pointers 22 seconds apart to make it 18-9 about six minutes into the game and Godfrey scored six points in an 8-0 run — including dunks to open and close the spurt — that pushed the lead to 14 before the Bulldogs took a 43-31 lead into halftime.
Liam Murphy scored 16 consecutive North Florida points before Nate Lliteras hit a 3-pointer that pulled the Ospreys with 66-57 with 9:46 to play but Leffew answered with a 3 on the other end and Georgia led by double figures the rest of the way.
Murphy led North Florida with 22 points, including five 3-pointers, and Lliteras finished with 15 points. Kamrin Orion made four 3s and scored 14 and Josh Harris had 12 points.
North Florida (3-1) opened the season with three consecutive wins — including road wins over South Carolina in the opener and Georgia Tech (105-93) — for the first time since the 2015-16
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball