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Wednesday, Mar. 8 1:00pm ET
Huskies roll to 23rd straight over BC | |||||
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BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) -- In an up-and-down season for defending national champion Connecticut, there remains one constant. The Huskies always beat Boston College. Connecticut (22-8) extended its winning streak over the Eagles to 23 games on Wednesday with a 70-55 thumping that was built largely on the backboards. With Jake Voskuhl and Kevin Freeman each grabbing 11 rebounds, the two-time Big East tournament champions opened defense of the title decisively. It was the seventh straight Big East tournament victory and 10th in the last 11 conference tournament games for the Huskies (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 21 AP), who have won this title three of the past four years. Connecticut, which beat Boston College 87-58 in the regular season, has not lost to the Eagles since the 1987-88 season. The 23 straight victories ties Syracuse's record of 23 in a row over Seton Hall from 1982 to 1992. Voskuhl led the Huskies with 16 points and Freeman had 11. Khalid El-Amin scored 14 points and Albert Mouring added 12. Connecticut outrebounded the undermanned Eagles 46-26. "I just think that our domination inside on the offensive glass and overall limited them to one shot and done," coach Jim Calhoun said. "That made a difference in this game. "When you're in a tournament like this, you know, anything can happen." And for a while, undermanned Boston College (11-19), playing without injured Big East Rookie of the Year Troy Bell, had the Huskies on the run. Boston College opened fast and led 14-6 following consecutive 3-pointers by Xavier Singletary. But then the Eagles went scoreless for nearly eight minutes and Connecticut shot in front with a run of 12 points. "I just think we picked it up, the team as a whole," Voskuhl said. "We knew we had to pick it up to match their intensity." Connecticut led 31-25 at the half and, after Kenny Walls narrowed Boston College's deficit to four points with the first basket of the second half, the Huskies, led by Voskuhl and El-Amin, went on an 18-4 run to put the game away. Voskuhl had six points and El-Amin five as Connecticut spurted to an 18-point lead. The victory was the fourth straight for Connecticut and Calhoun said the difference was El-Amin. "We feed off him," Calhoun said. "Teams are built around certain things. If you have a great quarterback, you run a particular offense. Everything's predicated on that. We feed off K's energy. When he was energized for those first 10 minutes in the second half, we became energized." Walls led Boston College with 13 points, Michael Cotton scored 11 and Kenny Harley 10. | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Kahlid El-Amin races full court and scores with a kiss off glass.avi: 545 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||