Huskies Suffer 88-70 Loss to St. Bonaventure

Boxscore

Hartford, CT (December 28) -- Guard J.R. Bremer scored 22 of his career-high 33 points after halftime as St. Bonaventure used 11 made three-pointers and 23 forced turnovers to defeat Connecticut, 88-70 before a sellout crowd of 16,294 Friday night at the Hartford Civic Center.

The loss drops the Huskies to 6-2, while the Bonnies improved to 8-2. 

St. Bonaventure jumped out to a 29-18 lead with 8:41 to play in the first half, and Connecticut was never able to get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.   The Huskies turned the ball over 14 times in the first half, as the Bonnies settled for a 47-33 lead at intermission.  Caron Butler (So., Racine, WI) scored 10 of his team-high 24 points in the opening twenty minutes.  Vidal Massiah led St. Bonaventure with 13 points in the opening stanza, while Bremer added 11.  St. Bonaventure hit six three-pointers in the first half, five more after halftime.

UConn was unable to cut into the Bonnie lead, getting within 11 points twice in the second half.  The Huskies shot well from the field (51%, 30-59), but were done in by their 23 turnovers, which were converted into 26 St. Bonaventure points.  The Huskies did enjoy a 39-30 rebounding advantage, paced by Butler's 13, which equaled his career-best, and the Huskies outscored the Bonnies 54-30 in the paint.

Also in double figures for the Huskies were Taliek Brown (So., Queens, NY) who had 13, Johnnie Selvie (Sr., Flint, MI) who had 12 and Tony Robertson (So., E. Providence, RI) who notched 11.  Robertson also equaled his career-high with 6 rebounds.  Massiah finished with 18, while point guard Marques Green had 17 points, a game-high eight assists and six rebounds. 

The Huskies will open their 2001-2002 BIG EAST conference schedule when they travel to Blacksburg, VA on January 2 to play Virginia Tech at Cassell Coliseum.  Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.