Gordon and Okafor Guide UConn to a 74-68 Victory Over St. John's
Boxscore (pdf)
Boxscore
(html) NEW YORK CITY, NY (January 27)-- Sophomore Ben Gordon (Mount
Vernon, NY) scored 23 points, including 9 of 18 shooting from the field,
while sophomore Emeka Okafor (Houston, Texas) posted his twelfth double-double
of the season with 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead the No. 12 University of
Connecticut to a 74-68 win over St. John's Monday night in front of a crowd of
12,010 at Madison Square Garden. The win was UConn's first win over St. John's
at Madison Square Garden since the 1999 Championship season. UConn improves to
13-3 overall and 4-1 in the BIG EAST, while St. John's drops to 10-6 overall,
and 3-3 in league play. UConn led 36-29 at halftime and opened up the biggest
lead of the game 40-29, in the opening minute of the second half. St. John's
quickly stormed back, scoring the next seven points to make it 40-36 with 17:29
left to play. The game remained tight and Connecticut increased it's lead to
seven, making the score 51-44, as Gordon hit a three pointer with 12:53 to play.
St. John's closed the gap to two, 53-51, as Anthony Glover hit a jump-shot. The
game remained a two point affair, 57-55, with 7:41 to play, but Okafor hit a
jump-shot with 7:10 to play and Shamon Tooles connected on a conventional
three-point play with 5:54, moving UConn to a 62-55 lead. St. John's could never
get closer than five points the rest of the way. St. John's was led in scoring
by Marcus Hatten with 26 points, while Glover added 17. For Connecticut, Tony
Robertson added a spark off the bench with seven points, and five rebounds. With
3:40 remaining in the second-half, Robertson's basket put UConn up eight points
and made him the 34th player in UConn Men's basketball history to score 1,000
points. The Huskies out rebounded the Red Storm 45 to 35, but allowed St. John's
to stay close as they turned the ball over 21 times to St. John's 7.
UConn returns to action on Saturday, February 1, when they play
host to Boston College at 2 pm at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in
Storrs, CT. |
