Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Connecticut
Eagles Fall To Huskies In OT, 79-77
February 16, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb 16, 2002
By DONNA TOMMELLEO
AP Sports Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. - Tony Robertson busted out of a four-game slump with 19 points, including the go-ahead basket in overtime Saturday as Connecticut rallied to beat Boston College 79-77.
The Huskies (17-6, 9-3 Big East) came back after being down 10 with 2:47 remaining in regulation. Taliek Brown scored eight points in a 14-5 UConn run that put the Huskies up 73-71 with 9.6 seconds remaining. Caron Butler, who also finished with 19, had four points in the spurt.
Boston College (17-8, 6-6) tied it at 73 with 1.8 seconds left on a pair of free throws from Troy Bell to send the game into overtime.
In the extra period, Butler went out briefly when he twisted his knee in a scramble for a rebound and was fouled. Reserve guard Shamon Tooles came in and made both free throws and the Huskies led 75-73.
After Bell hit 2-of-3 free throws to tie it again, Robertson hit a layup in transition with 2:09 left to give the Huskies the lead for good. Emeka Okafor added a free throw to extend UConn's lead to 78-75.
Uka Agbai hit the Eagles' last bucket with 1:25 remaining. Robertson then made 1 of 2 free throws to cap the scoring with 5.4 seconds left.
The Eagles had one more chance as Bell, heavily guarded by Tooles, brought it down the floor, then lost the ball as he tried to dribble into the lane.
The game was sweet redemption for Robertson, who shot 8 of 13 from the floor. He had shot just 3 of 23 in previous four games and was 0 for 9 from behind the arc.
The Huskies managed to hold off the Eagles down the stretch despite poor foul shooting. UConn was 4 of 8 from the line in the extra period and shot 13 of 29 for the game.
Bell led the Eagles with 27 points and four steals. Backcourtmate Ryan Sidney had 20 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Brown finished with 13 points for UConn and had a four of the Huskies' nine steals. Okafor led UConn with 11 rebounds and nine blocks, including a key rejection with 27 seconds left in overtime.
Sydney scored six of his 12 first-half points in the opening 3{ minutes of the game to stake the Eagles to a 10-2 lead.
Butler brought UConn back over the next seven minutes, scoring eight points in a 17-11 UConn run that brought the Huskies to within a bucket.
Bell hit back-to-back baskets to extend BC's lead to 25-19 with 7:06 remaining in the period.
UConn caught the Eagles with 13-7 run to close out the half, tying it at 32 on Ben Gordon's 3-pointer with 57 seconds remaining.
The Huskies are 2-1 in overtime games this season and clinched a winning record in the conference with the victory. The Eagles are 1-1 in overtime games.
