UConn clips WVU in OT
NEW YORK — Connecticut kept a great story going. West Virginia closed a chapter of its basketball history.
Shabazz Napier scored 26 points and Jeremy Lamb added 22 to lead the Huskies to their 13th straight postseason win, 71-67 in overtime over the Mountaineers on Wednesday in the second round of the Big East tournament.
The victory kept alive the hopes of a second straight Big East title for the Huskies (20-12), who won a record five games in as many days last year and then went on to win six more in earning the school’s third national championship.
“I don’t think it can happen again, but then again, I said it could never happen in the first place,” Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. “Would we like to give it a shot? Yeah. We’re just going to try to play tomorrow’s basketball game to take it where it may.”
Ninth-seeded Connecticut will play top-seeded and second-ranked Syracuse in the quarterfinals Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
The last time these schools met in the quarterfinals was 2009 when Syracuse prevailed 127-117 in six overtimes. They met last year in the semifinals, a 76-71 Connecticut win that went just one overtime.
“We’re thinking about we’re playing one of the best, in my opinion along with Kentucky, the best team in the country tomorrow,” Calhoun said.
Kevin Jones had 25 points for the eighth-seeded Mountaineers (19-13), who were playing their last game as a member of the Big East. West Virginia leaves for the Big 12.
“It’s been a good run. We’ve enjoyed it, most of it anyway,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said of the school’s 17 seasons in the Big East. “There’s nothing like coming to the Garden to play in the tournament.”
Napier, who fouled out with 2:35 left in OT, scored all the points in a 9-0 run that brought the Huskies even at 63 with 2:10 left in regulation. He capped the run with consecutive steals.
