Silas Demary Jr. had a near triple-double, Solo Ball scored 20 points for the second straight game and the UConn men’s basketball team defeated the Hoyas 79-75 in the final seconds at Georgetown.
Another night for the sixth-ranked Huskies (22-4, 14-1 Big East) as UConn kept its composure, never trailing and stymied multiple attempts by the Hoyas late in the game. The Huskies led by double digits multiple times, including a 14-point lead early in the second half, before bending but not breaking through in the final seconds to secure the victory. Alex Karaban became the winningest player in UConn men’s history with his 116th win while at Storrs.
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Ed Cooley’s team, currently 5-9 in Big East play, certainly played some good basketball on Saturday. The Hoyas are efficient from the field (43.6 percent) and from three-point range (42.9 percent). Georgetown entered the Big East with the fewest turnovers per game and continued that trend with just 11.
The Huskies opened the night with three straight 3-pointers from Karaban, Braylon Mullins and Ball. The two teams went back and forth, but in the end Ball was once again the Huskies’ primary threat. He scored a team-high 20 points, following his 24 points against Butler on Tuesday. Sixteen of those points came in the first half, including four of five 3-pointers. That night, Ball’s career score also exceeded the 1,000-point mark.
On Saturday, Ball faced Georgetown’s KJ Lewis, who scored 13 points in the first half and a game-high 25 points on the night. Leading by just two points, UConn went on an 11-5 run to end the half and went into the locker room with a 41-33 lead. During the break, UConn honored Hasheem Thabeet, who was named to the Huskies Honor Team.
Karaban and DeMarie Jr. provided UConn with a late push, with Karaban scoring 13 of his 18 points in the final 20 minutes and DeMarie scoring nine of his 15 points. The two biggest points of the night belonged to Calaban, who stepped to the free throw line with seconds remaining to lead the game on a single possession and made two free throws to put the game away.
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Georgetown kept chasing, and with less than 30 seconds left in the game, UConn led by 7 points. Lewis hit a three-pointer to reduce the lead to one possession. Talis Reid finished with just four points, but fouled out in the process. On the ensuing inbounds, Calaban nearly tipped the ball over and avoided a 10-second violation with a lofted pass, but Ball saved possession with an acrobatic catch. After UConn took a timeout, it turned the ball to the other side and Karaban threw it again. While Georgetown didn’t capitalize on his mistake, Karaban made up for it with two big field goals from the charity stripe. The Huskies held the Hoyas without a field goal in the final three minutes of the game and clinched their winning streak.
It was a game that symbolized the intensity of the Big East and a monumental game that spared no effort, as Calaban, Ball and Thabeet all celebrated individual honors and the Huskies were victorious once again. DeMarie finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, just one assist shy of a triple-double. Mullins and Eric Reibe each scored 10 points, and five Huskies scored in double figures.
With just five games left in the regular season for UConn, the race for the conference’s top seed continues to heat up. The Huskies are slightly ahead of St. John’s, which defeated Providence earlier Saturday and returns to the court Wednesday against Creighton at Gampel Pavilion. Preview time is 8pm ET, and TNT will televise the game.