UConn Falls To Syracuse In BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals By 67-63 Count

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NEW YORK – Senior forward Hakim Warrick scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Syracuse to a 67-63 win over the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team in the semifinals of the 2005 BIG EAST tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Syracuse, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, improves its record to 26-6 on the season and advances to Saturday night’s championship game against West Virginia. The Mountaineers were a 78-76 winner over Villanova in Friday’s other semifinal game. UConn has a 22-7 record and will await Sunday’s NCAA Championship selections. The Huskies were the second seed in the tournament

Senior Gerry McNamara (shown here guarding Husky Rashad Anderson) had 15 points for the Orange, including two three-point field goals, while senior Josh Pace scored 10 points.

The Huskies were led in scoring by sophomore forward Charlie Villanueva (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 18 points and 11 rebounds for his 11^th double-double of the season. Freshman Rudy Gay (Baltimore, Md.) scored 12 points while sophomore Marcus Williams (Los Angeles, Calif.) (shown at bottom) had 11 points and seven assists.

Syracuse had a 32-19 lead at halftime and opened that lead up to 21 points as Pace scored on a driving layup with 14:30 left to play that made it 46-25 SU.

The Huskies refused to go away quietly and then began to peck away at the Syracuse lead. UConn got the lead to under double figures with 2:53 left to go as Gay scored on a slam dunk. UConn cut the lead to six twice – 59-53 with 1:25 to go on a Villanueva layup and with 40 seconds to go on a Gay three-point field goal. The only closer UConn could get was the final score as Williams connected on a running jumper with 0.3 seconds to play.

As the contest started, UConn led briefly at 6-3 as junior Josh Boone (Mt. Airy, Md.) (right) scored inside with 2:50 into the game. Syracuse got the lead quickly back as McNamara hit a jump shot with 16:18 left to go in the half and then hit a three-pointer 2:13 later to make it 8-6 Orange.

Syracuse led 15-13 with 11:05 left in the first half and then outscored the Huskies the rest of the stanza by a 17-67 count for a 32-19 halftime lead. The Huskies scored on just three of their final 20 offensive possessions of the first half and were two for 16 from the field in the last 11:05 with six turnovers.

The game marked the 12^th time that UConn had advanced to the semifinals of the BIG EAST and the Huskies now have a 9-3 record in those games. UConn had advanced to the BIG EAST final game in seven of the past ten years. UConn now has an overall record of 39-23 during head coach Jim Calhoun’s tenure in games played at Madison Square Garden.