University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Holds Off South Carolina, 72-65
3/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STORRS, Conn. (AP) -- Edmund Saunders had 15 points, 11 rebounds and made key defensive plays to lead Connecticut to a 72-65 victory over South Carolina on Wednesday night in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
The Huskies (20-11) will play the Detroit-Bradley winner in the second round. The Gamecocks (15-15) played their final game for coach Eddie Fogler, who is resigning. They lost seven of their last nine games.
Caron Butler had 14 points and seven boards for the Huskies, who outrebounded the Gamecocks 38-25.
Jamel Bradley had 19 points and was 6-of-9 from 3-point range for South Carolina.
There were 26 lead changes and the game was close until the final four minutes.
Butler's jumper with 3:52 left snapped a 59-all tie. After a South Carolina turnover, Saunders finished off a UConn fast break with a reverse hook to put the Huskies up 63-61.
UConn's Taliek Brown was then fouled as he fielded a defensive rebound and hit both ends of a 1-on-1, giving the Huskies a 65-59 lead with 2:49 remaining.
Aaron Lucas went to the line for the Gamecocks with 2:28 left, missed the first shot of a 1-on-1 and Saunders came down with the rebound. The possession resulted in a 3-pointer from Albert Mouring as the Huskies outscored the Gamecocks 7-6 the rest of the way.
Saunders had three points in a 10-3 UConn run to give the Huskies a 25-20 lead with 9:39 left in the first. But the edge quickly disappeared as five UConn turnovers over the next three minutes resulted in a 14-7 South Carolina run.
Bradley hit three 3-pointers in that spurt and the Gamecocks took a 35-32 lead at the break.
Marius Petravicius added 15 points for South Carolina.
UConn has appeared in 11 NITs and won the tournament in 1988 in coach Jim Calhoun's second season.
