Boone Leads UConn Over Northeastern

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STORRS, CT (December 6, 2004) – Sophomore center Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) recorded his third double-double of the season in just four games as he paced a huge 74-39 rebounding advantage as sixth-ranked Connecticut raced past Northeastern, 97-60, before a sellout crowd of 10,167 at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 4-0 on the campaign, while Northeastern slips to 2-4.

Northeastern had closed to within 10 points at 46-36, when UConn head coach Jim Calhoun inserted the same lineup that jump-started the come-from-behind win Saturday against Indiana. On the floor were point guards Antonio Kellogg (Oakland, Calif.) and Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.), forwards Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) and Charlie Villanueva (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Boone. The Huskies scored on four straight possessions to start off a 13-4 run in just 2:01. Northeastern could get no closer than 14 the rest of the way.

Boone finished with a career-high 19 points and a season-best 14 rebounds as the Huskies made up for some poor outside shooting with 30 offensive rebounds and 52 points in the paint. Fellow frontcourt starters Villanueva and Denham Brown (Toronto, Ont.) scored 17 and 15 points for UConn. Junior forward Hilton Armstrong had nine points and nine rebounds off of the bench. Kellogg and Williams had seven and six assists respectively. The Huskies, averaging 13 blocks per contest on the season, swatted 11 during the game led by Villanueva and Boone, who had three apiece.

Marcus Barnes scored 20 points for Northeastern, but had just four after halftime. UConn held Northeastern’s leading scorer, Juan Jose Barea, who came in averaging 25 points per game, to just 10 points on three of 20 shooting.

The game was delayed approximately 20 minutes with 17:15 to play in the first half due to a power outage at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies will play their first road contest of the season on Thursday, December 9, when they travel to Amherst, Ma. to play Massachusetts at the Mullins Center. Game time is set for 9:00 p.m. and ESPN2 will televise the contest nationally.