ORLANDO, Fla. – A miracle heave from freshman Jalen Adams to send the game into quadruple overtime gave the UConn Huskies just enough time to top the Cincinnati Bearcats 104-97 on Friday afternoon.
Adams, a freshman guard, scored 15 of his 22 points in the four overtime periods which included the shocking 3-pointer with .8 seconds left on the clock.
Sophomore guard/forward Daniel Hamilton was a standout performer throughout the game, finishing with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists. Hamilton repeatedly found himself at the free throw line towards the end of the game and he knocked down 12 of 14 free throws.
The first half started slowly as both teams had trouble finding clean looks and seemingly had to shake off some rust from their layover heading into the tournament. However, it would be Cincinnati that found their shot first with the Bearcats dynamic backcourt of senior Farad Cobb and junior Troy Caupain doing most of the damage.
Caupain, named first team all-conference in the American on Mar. 10, put up a phenomenal effort with 37 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in the game.
Cobb was deadly from beyond the arc early on with all eight of his shots in the first half from long range and connecting on three of them. UConn did not have nearly the same fortune as the Bearcats from the 3-point line in the first half, shooting an anemic 27.3 percent.
The Huskies were forced to rely on junior guard Rodney Purvis for much of the game with the rest of the team struggling to find the bottom of the net. Cincinnati’s zone defense started to shift its focus towards stopping Purvis, forcing UConn to look for scoring production elsewhere.
Graduate student and guard Sterling Gibbs answered the call for the Huskies with back-to-back makes from long range to cut the lead to 3 early in the second half. Those makes sparked the entire team as UConn went on a 14-2 run to snatch the lead.
But the Bearcats were not finished as they rallied in the final three minutes and went on a 7-0 run to tie up the game and send it to the first of four overtime periods.
At that point, both Cincinnati and UConn traded shots back and forth until towards the end of the third overtime. The Bearcats’ Kevin Johnson stunned the Huskies with a huge 3-pointer which left the now infamous .8 seconds on the clock.
UConn reversed their shooting woes of the first half as they knocked down 48 percent of their shots from the field in the rest of the game. The Huskies will take on the #1 seed Temple Owls in the American Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal on Saturday at 3 p.m.
