• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

No. 18 UConn holds on to beat BC

Nov 22, 2013 - 7:30 AM New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - DeAndre Daniels scored 23 points, Shabazz Napier had 20 and No. 18 Connecticut held on to beat Boston College 72-70 on Thursday night in the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.

Boston College's Olivier Hanlan led a late-game run and made a 3-pointer with three seconds left to get the Eagles within one. But after Napier missed one of his two free throws at the other end, 6-foot Huskies guard Ryan Boatright blocked 6-foot-4 Lonnie Jackson's 3-point try at the buzzer.

Boatright and Omar Calhoun added nine points apiece for the Huskies (5-0), who had beaten their past three opponents by an average of 27 points coming into the game.

Connecticut moved on to the championship game Friday against Indiana, which beat Washington later Thursday. The Eagles will play Washington on Friday.

Ryan Anderson had 22 points and Hanlan scored 19 for Boston College (1-4), which was coming off its first win of the season Sunday over Florida Atlantic.

"It was a fun game," said Anderson. "We just came up on the wrong end."

The Huskies and Eagles, former Big East foes, have a history dating back to 1918 but hadn't met since Boston College left for the ACC after the 2004-05 season.

"Survive and advance," Huskies head coach Kevin Ollie said. "It was like an old UConn-Boston College rivalry [game], and it came down to the end. We gutted out a win."

Boston College trimmed a nine-point deficit to one with a 12-4 run. Hanlan had six points in the burst, including the last four on a floater and two free throws to get the Eagles within 68-67 with 43.4 seconds left.

Napier missed one of his two free throws with 30.4 ticks remaining, giving the Eagles a chance to tie or go ahead, but Hanlan missed a left-handed layup. After Boatright made a pair of foul shots, Hanlan leaned in with Napier at his side and knocked down a 3 from the high left side.

The Eagles were left without any timeouts, so after Napier made the second of his foul shot attempts at the other end, they were left with a long inbounds play.

Garland Owens received the pass near midcourt and found Jackson quickly near the left sideline, but Boatright knocked the long shot attempt down, ending the game.

Daniels scored 15 points in the first half, Napier added eight and Huskies had a 37-34 lead at the break.

A 9-3 run gave Connecticut the lead for good. Daniels scored the last seven to make it 13-9. Later, Boston College cut an 11-point deficit to two with a 9-0 run keyed by a 3 from Anderson, who had 11 points in the half to lead the Eagles.

Game Notes

Boston College won the last game between the teams before it went to the ACC -- 75-70 on Jan. 5, 2005 ... Connecticut, now a member of the American Athletic Conference, leads the all-time series 55-35, with wins in 29 of the last 32 meetings.