Adama Sanogo had 20 points and 16 rebounds and Tyrese Martin had 16 points and 10 rebounds for No. 24 UConn, which took control of the game in the second half and defeated Seton Hall, 70-65 on Wednesday night in a Big East game in Storrs, Conn.
R.J. Cole added 16 points and Andre Jackson had six assists for the Huskies (18-7, 9-5 Big East), who have won three of their last four games.
Jamir Harris scored 15 points and Jared Rhoden added 14 for Seton Hall (15-9, 6-8), which has lost two straight. Kadary Richmond added 13 points and Myles Cale had 11.
Rhoden’s 3-pointer with 5:37 to go cut Seton Hall’s deficit to 60-54. The Pirates trimmed UConn’s lead to six on two more occasions soon afterward but didn’t get closer until Harris’ three cut the deficit to 68-63 with 24 seconds left. But the Pirates never seriously threatened UConn’s lead.
The Huskies began to pull away early in the second half, opening with an 11-4 run fueled by 3-pointers by Martin, Cole and Isaiah Whaley. That put the Huskies ahead 39-31.
But Seton Hall answered with a 9-4 spurt, capped by Harris’ trey from the right wing, which trimmed the hosts’ lead to 43-40 with 13:05 to go.
But Seton Hall’s defense couldn’t consistently get stops. A nifty lefty driving bank shot by Cole made UConn’s lead 51-44 with 10:02 to go, and Martin’s three-point play with 7:49 left extended the advantage to 56-46.
Seton Hall had a strange first half offensively as the Pirates began ice-cold, heated up somewhat in the middle of the period, and then went frigid again at the end.
Ike Obiagu’s three-point play off a dunk 59 seconds into the contest provided Seton Hall’s only points of nearly the first seven minutes of the game. Fortunately for the Pirates, UConn was struggling on offense, too.
Thus, by the time Richmond scored on a jumper in the lane for Seton Hall, the Pirates trailed only 9-5 with 13:04 left in the first half.
Seton Hall missed its first four 3-point attempts before connecting on its next four tries, which enabled it to turn a 20-13 deficit into a 25-22 lead on Rhoden’s trey with 3:53 to go in the half.
But the Pirates managed only one more basket for the remainder of the half and UConn capitalized with a mini run of 6-2 to lead 28-27 at intermission. Fittingly, the last three points of the half were scored by Sanogo, who was dominant with 12 points and nine rebounds.
–Field Level Media
