UConn Claims Big East Crown

Connecticut's bench and defense brought it a third Big East tournament championship.

The top-seeded Huskies, who won the regular-season by two games, struggled offensively for the third straight game but still came away with a 69-64 victory over second-seeded Syracuse on Saturday night.

Reserve Rashamel Jones had 17 points to lead the sixth-ranked Huskies (29-4), who held the 22nd-ranked Orangemen (24-8) without a field goal for 8:28 of the second half as they wiped out a nine-point deficit.

Freshman point guard Khalid El-Amin added 12 points for Connecticut and was named the tournament MVP as the Huskies became the seventh top seed to win it all in 18 Big East tournaments. Their other titles came in 1990 and 1996 and they are 3-1 in championship games.

Syracuse, which was looking for its fourth tournament title, had a 48-39 lead when freshman Allen Griffin hit a 3-pointer with 9:35 to play. That was the last field goal the Orangemen would get for almost 8½ minutes as Connecticut went on a 19-3 run. Syracuse just couldn't get a good shot against the man-to-man defense and there were no offensive rebounds to be had as the Huskies controlled the boards as well.

Jason Hart's jumper with 1:07 to play brought Syracuse's drought from the field and brought the Orangemen within 64-57. They would get within 66-62 with 46 seconds left, but Connecticut made three of four free throws to take back command with 19 seconds to play.

Conference player of the year Richard Hamilton continued to struggle with his shooting as he was 3-for-11 and finished with 11 points for the Huskies, while center Jake Voskuhl doubled his season average with 13 points, all in the first half. The Huskies starters had 22 points in the second half, 10 from El-Amin, as the bench, led by Jones, came up big.

Starting forward Kevin Freeman didn't score for Connecticut and was limited to 15 minutes after injuring his left wrist in the first half.

Todd Burgan had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Orangemen, while Marius Janulis added 14 points.

El-Amin was the second freshman to win MVP honors. The first was Georgetown's Victor Page in 1996.

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