NEW YORK (AP) — Solo Ball scored 19 points and No. 5 UConn earned its fourth victory over a ranked opponent already this season, beating No. 18 Florida 77-73 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.

Alex Karaban added 13 points and Tarris Reed Jr. had 12 points and five rebounds in his return from a lingering ankle injury that caused him to miss the previous two games. Malachi Smith handed out nine assists as the Huskies (9-1) shot 50%, including 59.3% in the first half while building a seven-point halftime lead.

Ball went 6 of 14 from the field and drained a trio of 3-pointers in a matchup of power programs that have combined to win the past three NCAA titles.

Xaivian Lee led the defending champion Gators (5-4) with 19 points but shot 5 of 14 and missed six of seven 3-point tries. Thomas Haugh added 18 and Alex Condon finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Florida shot 42.4% in a rematch of last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament game that ended UConn’s hopes for a third consecutive national championship.

The Huskies won their fifth straight game since a 71-67 home loss Nov. 19 to then-No. 4 Arizona, now the top-ranked team in the country. UConn also has wins over Top 25 opponents BYU, Illinois and Kansas.

The Huskies won for the 11th time in their past 13 games at Madison Square Garden.

The Gators held a 55-54 lead after a difficult layup by Haugh with 8:02 left, but Connecticut took the lead for good on the next possession on a jumper by Braylon Mullins. Karaban followed with a 3 after blocking Lee’s layup attempt.

Ball made a 3 and then a layup by Smith opened a 66-58 lead with 4:31 remaining.

Still, the Gators had a chance to tie it after Boogie Fland’s layup with 13 seconds to go and a turnover by UConn on the inbounds play. Florida was called for a five-second violation, however, and Ball hit a free throw to seal it.

Up next

Florida: Hosts George Washington on Saturday.

UConn: Hosts Texas on Friday in Hartford.

___

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© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Florida is four days into its 2025 Black Bear Hunt, but we still don’t know how many bears have been harvested, or even if any hunters have bagged a single bear yet.

When News 6 asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for an update on the number of bears harvested on Monday, a spokesperson said we were told we needed to file a public records request for any data queries, not just the bear hunt.

News 6 has filed that request with the state and is waiting to hear back. We have also asked FWC why the agency has not posted public updates on the bear hunt yet. We are waiting to hear back.

[WATCH: Florida bear hunt begins amid controversy and protests]

FWC allocated 172 permits to allow for bear hunting for the first time in 10 years. Only one bear is allowed per permit.

In 2015, FWC allocated thousands of permits, but stopped the hunt after two days and about 300 bears killed.

Part of the reason may have to do with the difference in how the bear hunt is being run this year.

In 2015, hunters needed to bring their takings to public FWC check-in stations to be registered and weighed.

This year, hunters have 24 hours after their hunt to report their harvest to FWC, and to arrange a time and location to meet and go over their kill.

The state said it decided to conduct the hunt this way because it was more efficient, according to the FWC bear hunt website.

The state also says it released a much smaller number of permits, so hunters have more time to be selective, allowing the season to last longer.

The hunt is also controversial. People packed FWC meetings this year to fight the hunt. Activists filed suit in court.

[WATCH: Non-hunters snagged at least 44 Florida bear hunt permits, records show]

Meanwhile, groups like Bear Warriors United and the Sierra Club sponsored entries into the permit lottery for non-hunters in the hopes of reducing the number of bears killed.

Bear Warriors United also says it is offering permit holders $2,000 if they agree in writing not to hunt.

A count conducted in 2015 found approximately 4,050 bears in Florida. FWC says studies show an annual growth rate ranging from 2.2% in the central Bear Management Unit, which includes much of our area, to 15.4% in the north BMU, including the Jacksonville area west to Suwannee and Hamilton counties.

Scientists are working on a new population study, but results will not be available until 2029.

To learn details about the bear hunt, including what bears can be killed, what weapons can be used, and where hunters can hunt, check out this story on ClickOrlando.com.

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of stabbing a woman to death during home invasion robbery more than 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening in Florida.

Mark Allen Geralds, 58, is set to receive a lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Geralds was convicted of murder, armed robbery, burglary and stealing a car and was sentenced to death in 1990. The Florida Supreme Court later vacated the sentence but affirmed the conviction, and Geralds was resentenced to death in 1992.

It would be Florida’s 18th death sentence carried out in 2025, further extending the state record for total executions in a single year.

According to court records, Tressa Pettibone’s 8-year-old son found his mother beaten and stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of their Panama City home in February 1989. Geralds was a carpenter who had previously done remodeling work at the home.

Geralds ran into Pettibone and her children at a shopping mall about a week before the killing, and Pettibone mentioned that her husband was away on business. Geralds later approached Pettibone’s son at the video arcade and asked when the boy’s father would return and what time he and his sister left for and returned from school each day, according to court records.

Investigators found that Geralds pawned jewelry with traces of Pettibone’s blood on it, and plastic ties used to bind Pettibone matched ties found in Geralds’ car.

After a death warrant was signed last month and his execution date set, Geralds told a judge he did not wish to pursue any further appeals. The judge signed off on that decision.

A total of 44 men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and a handful of executions are scheduled for the rest of the year.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year. Another execution is planned for next week in the state under death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Frank Athen Walls, 58, is scheduled for Florida’s 19th execution this year on Dec. 18. He was convicted of fatally shooting a man and woman during a home invasion robbery and later confessing to three other killings.

Florida’s lethal injections are carried out with a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.

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© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.