Florida has walked off the floor against Georgia basketball victorious every time the teams have played each of the last five seasons whether in Athens or Gainesville.

The No. 11 seeded Bulldogs put up quite a fight Thursday night on a neutral court in the SEC Tournament before the No. 6 seeded Gators pulled out an 85-80 decision in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

“I thought our guys played really hard and put ourselves in position to potentially advance again," Georgia coach Mike White said.

Georgia cut into an eight-point Gators lead and tied the game at 68 with 5:12 to go after a three-point play from Russell Tchewa and layup from Silas Demary (14 points, 3 assists) but Walter Clayton (22 points) hit a 3 and the Gators pushed the lead to six.

“They made some big time shots down the stretch," guard Noah Thomasson said.

The Bulldogs climbed back behind five straight points from Justin Hill (13 points) but a Clayton steal and three-point play provided some cushion.

Georgia fell to 17-16 and its season will be over unless they are one of the two highest ranked SEC teams in the NET not to get an NCAA tournament bid when selections come out Sunday evening. That would put them in the NIT.

"I hope we have an opportunity to continue to play in the NIT," White said. "Would we be excited to be in it? Absolutely. I don't care what tournament it is. ...It's weird to sit there in the locker room postgame and not know is this the last time you're going to address your team."

The Gators (22-10) beat Georgia for the third time this season. It was Florida’s 11th straight win over the Bulldogs, who last beat the Gators on March 2, 2019.

White fell to 0-5 against Florida, the team he coached before his move from one SEC rival to another.

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The Gators had bowed out of the SEC Tournament in its first game each of the last two years, both in overtime. Florida advanced to play No. 3 seed Alabama in a quarterfinal Friday night.

Florida used a 12-2 run over four-and-a-half minutes and overcame a seven-point Georgia second-half lead.

Then after a 3-pointer from Thomasson (14 points, 4 of 12 shooting) trimmed the lead to 53-52, Alex Condon scored over Jalen DeLoach who was called for a foul and eventually fouled out.

White argued with official Byron Jarrett and was assessed a technical and Clayton sank two free throws to push the lead to 58-52.

White had seen big men Tchewa and Frank Anselem-Ibe already with four fouls before DeLoach got his fourth.

“I was displeased with some calls and I voiced my opinion which is very prevalent in this league," White said.

Georgia stayed in it because the Gators were abysmal from the free throw line at 23 of 41. Georgia wasn’t much better at 16 of 27. Tyrese Samuel, a 6-foot-10, forward, made just 9 of 23 free throws, but scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Florida wins 11th in a row against Georgia in SEC tournament battle