The Connecticut Huskies' seven-game Big East Tournament winning streak was snapped Thursday afternoon by the Syracuse Orange, who used a late second-half surge to complete a 58-55 victory and advance to Friday's Big East semifinals.
The Huskies opened the second half with a 15-4 run, quickly turning a four-point deficit into a 39-31 lead. Andre Drummond, who finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks, capped the flurry with a layup and a loud putback dunk.
Undeterred, Syracuse battled back, reclaiming the lead at 48-47 on a Dion Waiters jumper with 5:45 remaining. Waiters was instrumental off the bench for Syracuse, pouring in 18 points on 8-11 shooting.
Syracuse pushed its lead to 56-49, but UConn had one last gasp. Shabazz Napier missed the free throw after hitting an and-one with 19 seconds remaining, and Drummond put back the miss to make it 56-53.
After two Syracuse free throws, Drummond again scored with 4.6 seconds left to bring UConn within 58-55. Syracuse had a little trouble with the ensuing inbounds pass, but Waiters leaked out and the clock ran out before he slammed home an exclamation point dunk.
Napier led UConn with 15 points, but shot just 5-17. Jeremy Lamb added 10 points, but didn't score in the final 18 minutes.
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