Florida
College basketball: Will Richard powers Florida to Orange Bowl Classic win over Richmond
SUNRISE — Seated under the basket, where he’d wound up after finishing an acrobatic layup while being fouled, Will Richard triumphantly flexed his biceps.
It was quite a satisfying Saturday for the Florida Gators’ junior guard, particularly the second half.
Richard scored 19 of his season-high 21 points after the break, including three consecutive 3-pointers, as Florida beat Richmond 87-76 in the second game of the AutoNation Orange Bowl Basketball Classic at Amerant Bank Arena. South Florida beat Florida State 88-72 to start the doubleheader.
“Just a huge a win for us, one that I’m really, really happy about and really proud of our group,” said Florida coach Todd Golden. “We did a great job competing for 40 minutes. Defensively, we weren’t great in the second half — gave up 46. But to score 87 against that team is really impressive.”
Forward Tyrese Samuel played a pivotal part in the Gators’ second consecutive win on the heels of back-to-back losses to Baylor and Wake Forest. Samuel grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds to go with 18 points.
Zyon Pullin (12) and Riley Kugel (11) also scored in double figures. And Micah Handlogten had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Gators, who improved to 19-4 all-time at this event.
Then, of course, there was Richard, who was named the game’s most valuable player after nearly tying his career high for points (24).
“This young man next to me just separated the game,” Golden said of Richard, seated to his left postgame. “He stepped up in a moment where we needed somebody to take the game back.”
The Spiders (5-5) scored the first six points of the second half to cut the Gators’ 40-30 halftime lead to two possessions and trailed by seven points with 13-plus minutes remaining.
That’s when Richard drained three consecutive field goals from long range in a span of 1:23. His second 3, from the top of the key, gave the Gators (6-3) their largest lead.
“My man went nuclear over here, hit three or four big shots in a row, gave us our confidence back, and allowed us to finish the game,” Golden said.
“I was just staying aggressive within our offense,” Richard said of his 3s. “I wasn’t trying to force anything. But once I saw the first one go in, I felt a little confidence.”
After those three 3-pointers and Richard’s indelible 3-point play minutes later that prompted his pose, the Gators maintained a double-digit advantage most of the rest of the way.
The Spiders, who led only briefly a few times in the game’s opening minutes, had four players score in double figures — led by center Neal Quinn, who had 17 points, five rebounds and a team-high tying six assists. Mikkel Tyne tallied 16, Isaiah Bigelow had 15, and Jordan King added 14, along with six rebounds and six assists.
The difference, particularly in the second half, was Richard.
“He’s a very good shooter and he’s under control, he’s never really sped up,” said Richmond coach Chris Mooney. “And then he doesn’t force many shots even though he’s aggressive. That control, with his shooting ability, makes him really difficult [to guard] because if he doesn’t shoot, he passes and makes the right play. …He made those three 3s in a row and that really hurt us.”
Florida
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Florida
Florida mother Destiny Byassee killed when fake airbags ‘detonated like a grenade,’ lawsuit alleges
A young Florida mother was killed last year when her car’s counterfeit airbag “detonated like a grenade,” according to a lawsuit.
Destiny Byassee’s used 2020 Chevy Malibu passed through multiple conmen before its fake emergency airbags deployed in a June frontal collision, causing a blast that “shot metal and plastic shrapnel throughout” the car, her family alleges.
“Several fragments from the blast struck Ms. Byassee in the face, head, and neck, ultimately killing her,” stated the complaint, obtained by Law & Crime.
The 22-year-old “was a mother of two young children and had her entire life ahead of her,” attorney John Morgan, who is also representing the family, said in a news release.
According to the lawsuit, Byassee bought the doomed sedan from DriveTime, a national used car company, without being given a full history of the car.
The former Enterprise Rent-A-Car car was involved in a devastating September 2022 crash that caused damage that “was so significant that the vehicle should have been classified as a total loss, issued a salvage title, and removed from service,” the lawsuit alleges.
Rather than scrap the vehicle, Enterprise allegedly sold the car to DriveTime through Manheim Auctions, Inc., which bills itself as the largest wholesale automobile auction company in the world.
It was then repaired at Jumbo Automotive in Hollywood, Florida, the complaint continues, claiming that shop owner Haim Levy “purchased counterfeit and non-compliant airbag components” by a Chinese company to replace the Chevrolet factory airbag “and proceeded to install these components into the subject Chevy Malibu.”
Not only were the dangerous fake bags used, but Levy allegedly repaired the deployed seatbelt pretensioner — the part of a complete system that tightens the belt during a crash — incorrectly, but in a cunning way that made it appear to work properly.
Byassee “had no idea that the vehicle had been improperly and illegally repaired,” her family said.
Both the counterfeit airbag and faulty seatbelt pretensioner “were signaled to deploy” during the June 2023 collision, according to the lawsuit.
“However, because the subject Chevy Malibu’s front driver-side seatbelt pretensioner was inoperable, the pretensioner did not deploy as originally designed,” the lawsuit states. “Worse, because the subject Chevy Malibu’s front driver-side airbag system included counterfeit and non-compliant components, the airbag detonated like a grenade and shot metal and plastic shrapnel throughout the vehicle cabin.”
The filing pointedly said that photographs depicted the “horrifying event,” including one of the “shredded and blood-soaked front driver-side airbag.”
Cathy King, Byassee’s grandmother, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the 6- and 4-year-old children the young woman left behind, as well as her husband and mother.
Byassee “believed she was buying a safe and reliable vehicle, but our lawsuit alleges that several automotive companies worked to skirt the system by repairing what should’ve been a totaled vehicle, all just to make money,” Morgan said in the release.
“Because of that, Ms. Byassee lost her life, and her children will grow up without their mother.”
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial on 14 various counts against the various defendants – including strict liability, negligence and deceptive trade practices.
Neither Enterprise, Manheim, DriveTime nor Jumbo Automotive immediately answered The Post’s request for comment.
Florida
Don Moreland inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Hall of Fame
OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) – A former Marion County Sheriff was inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Hall of Fame today.
Former sheriff Don Moreland got emotional giving his acceptance speech, more than fifty years after he was elected.
He was Marion County Sheriff for twenty years, from 1972 to 1992.
Once he left his post, former President Bill Clinton made him the Marshall for the Middle District of Florida.
“I am deeply honored being included in this whole thing. When you get to be 90 you really sincerely appreciate everything a little bit more,” said Don Moreland.
Moreland still holds the record for the ‘longest-serving sheriff’ in Marion County.
TRENDING: Gainesville Opportunity Center hosts its 3rd annual bike day
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