Kenny Boynton’s main concern was helping Florida escape against Northwestern State, which it did with a 79-47 victory, but along the way he scored the 2,000th point of his career.

Boynton became just the second UF player ever to reach that mark. He scored 11 points for the third-seeded Gators in their first game of the NCAA tournament. He finished 3 for 7 from the field.

He now has 2,006 career points, which is 84 shy of the program record. Ronnie Williams scored 2,090 for the Gators from 1980 through ’84.

Boynton, a senior, would need a spectacular finish to catch Williams. The most Florida could play is five more games, which would put it in the national championship game, and Boynton would have to average 16.8 points per game over that run to tie Williams.

Boynton entered tonight’s game averaging 12.3.