“Boost” hasn’t been a term synonymous with the contribution of a bench that has been outscored 499 to 389 on the season.

But according to head coach Mark Fox, the bench for the Georgia men’s basketball provided a “big boost” in it’s 78-76 win over Florida Saturday.

All season, Georgia’s starters have been saddled with the burden of playing an inordinate amount of minutes, leaving them with little juice to finish off games down the stretch. As a result, Georgia has lost eight games in which it was within one possession in the final minute.

So when Travis Leslie and Ricky McPhee were forced to the bench for the final four minutes of the first half against Florida with foul trouble, the Georgia collapse appeared imminent.

“Coach [Fox] has been stressing to us that the bench has to come in and help and not just mess it up,” said backup point guard Vincent Williams.

The Georgia bench not only didn’t mess it up, but it built on the lead, propelling Georgia to a 10-0 run over the final 2:36 of the first half to take a 15-point halftime lead. That pivotal stretch was led by freshman guard DeMario Mayfield, who hadn’t seen action in four games, but still recorded each of his career-high five points in that stretch.

Guard DeMario Mayfield chipped in five points as the Georgia bench scored 31 points in Saturday's win. PHOTO BY DANIEL SHIREY.

“Coach and my family have been keeping me positive at all times,” Mayfield said, “and you never know when coach is going to call on you, so I had to stay ready.”

On the game, Georgia enjoyed a plus-23 advantage in points off the bench — the highest margin in favor of Georgia this season. And the game’s biggest play came from the bench when Georgia center Albert Jackson blocked Florida forward Dan Werner’s pass out of bounds on the final possession, ending Florida’s chances.

“Our bench has been criticized and I’ve been one of the guys criticizing them and I told them after the game, I said, ‘you guys really helped us,’” Fox said. “We had Ricky and Travis both with two fouls, and it really was important for those guys to contribute.”

The bench stepped up with its best game of the season, providing 68 minutes of relief for the starters, pitching in 31 points on 13-for-20 shooting and grabbing 14 rebounds.

Forward Jeremy Price led the reserves with 13 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes of action. With Leslie in foul trouble and only able to play 22 minutes, guard Ebuka Anyaorah notched a career-high nine points and three rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

“I told them before the game, ‘We’re going to play a lot of players tonight.’ I thought today in our shootaround we were extremely fatigued. Then I watched Kentucky a little bit today, and I thought they looked a little fatigued, and they played Thursday night also,” Fox said postgame. “We made a point to play a lot of guys, and foul trouble probably forced us to play them a little earlier than we were planning on, but those kids did a nice job.”