St. John’s jolts No. 23 UConn 74-70
STORRS, CONN. » St. John’s came into Connecticut looking for a confidence-building, perhaps season-defining win and got it.
Posh Alexander scored 18 points to lead five players in double figures and the Red Storm came from behind to upset No. 23 UConn 7470 on Monday in the first meeting of the rivals since February 2013.
Marcellus Earlington scored 15 points and Julian Champagnie, the Big East’s leading scorer, had 10 of his 12 points in the second half. Rasheem Dunn scored 11 points and Dylan AddaeWusu chipped in with 10 for the Red Storm (8-7, 3-6) who won for just the second time in five games.
“I personally feel like we can beat every team in the country,” Alexander said. “It’s just like now we’re just coming together a little more.”
R.J. Cole scored 18 points, Tyrese Martin had 14 and
freshman Adama Sanogo added a season-high 12 points for UConn (7-2, 4-2), which played its third consecutive game without leading scorer James Bouknight, who is recovering from elbow surgery.
“You take one of the best players in the country off your team, that’s going to cause a lot of problems when we don’t have a lot of natural scorers,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said.
UConn led by as many as 14 points in the first half and didn’t trail for the first 33 minutes of the game.
St. John’s trailed 35-32 at the half after a 16-5 run before the Huskies extended their lead to 49-41 in the second half.
The Red Storm chipped away and Alexander tied the game at 59 with a pair of free throws. A 3-pointer by Earlington gave the Red Storm their first lead, 6462, with just over four minutes left.
Champagnie’s driving layup made it 71-67 with 1:17 left, and St. John’s held off the Huskies down the stretch.
Martin’s 3-pointer from the right corner cut the deficit to 71-70 and the Huskies forced a tie-up under the basket to get the ball back. But Martin missed two foul shots that would have given UConn the lead, and Rasheem Dunn hit a free throw at the other end.
A long 3-pointer by UConn’s Polley missed and Champagnie, who came in averaging just over 20 points a game, sealed the win with two foul shots.
“(Champagnie) had a rough night,” coach Make Anderson said. “But we’ve got the trust in him that he can make plays, free throws, I think defensively. I think that’s the sign of a good player, when a guy can still have an impact on a game not scoring, not at his best.”