Huskies Hold Off Seton Hall

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY (January 17, 2005)— Sophomore Josh Boone scored 20 points and was perfect from the field at 8-for-8, while freshman Rudy Gay added a career-best 18 points and the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team defeated Seton Hall by a 77-68 score at the Continental Airlines Arena on Monday night.

The win improves UConn’s record to 11-3 on the season and 3-1 in BIG EAST Conference play while the Pirates fall to 8-7 and 0-4 in the league.

Sophomore Charlie Villanueva posted a double-double for the Huskies with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

The Huskies made it a 69-63 game with 3:47 left to play as Antonio Kellogg connected on a conventional three-point play. Seton Hall’s J.R. Morris kept the game close on a three-point field goal as the shot clock wound down to make it 69-66 Huskies but freshman Marcus Williams came right back and a hit a jump shot and free throw to make it 72-66 UConn with 2:07 left to go. The Pirates could get not closer than four points the rest of the way.

Connecticut enjoyed excellent free-throw shooting in the game, particularly in the second half as it went 11-12 and was 17-20 for the entire game.

The Pirates led 55-54 with 9:34 left, but the Husky defense responded, holding Seton Hall without a field goal for nearly five minutes and UConn headed into the game’s final 3:48 with a 69-63 lead.

UConn took the lead from Seton Hall on six-straight points from Boone as he took the 55-54 Husky deficit to a 60-57 Husky lead with 6:29 left to play.

Seton Hall finished the first half on a 22-8 run to cut the UConn halftime lead to 38-37. The Pirates had actually taken a brief 37-36 lead in the final minute, but Boone made a pair of free throws with 0.9 seconds left to give UConn the lead at the break.

UConn scored the first 12 points of the game, as Seton Hall missed its first 11 shots of the contest. The lead grew to as big as 15 points at 30-15 with 6:12 to play in the half. Seton Hall took advantage of Husky foul troubles in the first half as Villanueva, Williams, junior Hilton Armstrong and Kellogg each picked a pair of fouls and went to the bench. Connecticut shot 55.2% in the first half, but turned the ball over nine times before the break. The Pirates rebounded from their ice cold start to shoot 38.2% from the field in the first. Andre Sweet led the Pirates with 14 at the break, while Boone had ten points and six boards at the intermission.

Seton Hall was led by four double-figures scorers as Andre Sweet came off the bench to score 22 points while Kelly Whitney and J.R. Morris each had 13 and Justin Cerasoli had 10. Sweet had eight rebounds to lead the Pirates.

The Huskies return to action on Saturday, January 22 with a 9:00 p.m. contest against the University of Pittsburgh at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. That game will be televised nationally by ESPN.