Connecticut’s Isaiah Whaley converted the go-ahead old-fashioned 3-point play to cap a run of 11 unanswered points late in the second half Sunday afternoon to lift the 24th-ranked Huskies over host St. John’s 63-60 at Madison Square Garden.
Tyrese Martin scored all 17 of his points in the second half, including four consecutive points before Whaley’s 3-point play with 3:46 remaining, as the Huskies (17-7, 8-5 Big East) split a two-game road trip. RJ Cole had 14 points and Andre Jackson pulled down 16 rebounds.
For St. John’s (13-11, 5-8), Montez Mathis came off the bench to score 12 of his team-high 14 points in the second half, but could not keep the Red Storm from its second consecutive loss and fourth in six games. Julian Champagnie had a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) while Aaron Wheeler scored 13 points and Dylan Addae-Wusu added 12 points.
A game that featured 16 lead changes and seven ties began with neither team leading by more than five points in the first half, which ended with Connecticut clinging to a 30-29 lead.
The lead changed hands six times in the first six minutes of the second half before Mathis scored six points in an 11-0 run by St. John’s that ended with a 3-pointer by Stef Smith that extended the Red Storm’s lead to 55-48 with 7:46 remaining.
Connecticut responded with its own 11-0 run, a span in which St. John’s went 0-for-8 with a turnover. After Whaley’s go-ahead points gave UConn a 57-55 advantage, Champagnie missed a 3-pointer and Wheeler missed a short jumper before Adama Sanogo’s layup extended the Huskies’ lead to 59-55 with 2:18 remaining.
Mathis ended the St. John’s drought by hitting a driving layup as he was fouled, but he missed the ensuing free throw. The teams traded four empty possessions before Martin put back the miss of a layup by Cole, giving UConn a four-point edge with 21 seconds to play. Wheeler quickly hit a 3-pointer to cut the Huskies’ lead to 61-60.
After a Connecticut timeout, Cole was fouled and hit both ends of the 1-and-1. The Huskies didn’t foul and Martin harassed Wheeler into missing an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired.
–Field Level Media
