National Basketball Association
Southern Methodist 62, Connecticut 54
When: 3:15 PM ET, Sunday, March 15, 2015
Where: XL Center, Hartford, Connecticut
Officials:
# Ray Natili, # Gerry Pollard, # Michael Stephens
Attendance:
13365
By SportsDirect Inc.
SMU 62, Connecticut 54: Markus Kennedy had 15 points and six rebounds as the Mustangs denied the Huskies an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament by winning the American Athletic Conference tournament championship at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
Yanick Moreira posted 11 points, five rebounds and three assists while Ben Moore added 10 points and six rebounds for top-seeded SMU (27-6), which is headed to its first NCAA Tournament since 1993. Nic Moore, the AAC Player of the Year, had 11 points.
Rodney Purvis poured in a career-high 29 points, but UConn (20-14) couldn't overcome a poor shooting effort by Ryan Boatright, who finished with seven points on 1-of-12 shooting. Daniel Hamilton supplied eight points and 10 rebounds while Amida Brimah blocked seven shots for the Huskies, who needed to earn the automatic bid to reach the Big Dance.
The Huskies received an early scare when Boatright was struck in the face and stayed down for several minutes, but the senior missed just one minute of action before getting on the scoreboard with 11:21 remaining in the first half. Kennedy had 10 points as SMU built a 20-10 lead and the Mustangs led 25-12 before finishing the half with a 33-19 advantage.
Purvis scored six straight points as UConn trimmed a 17-point deficit to 45-34 and later to six on a 3-pointer with six minutes remaining. The Mustangs made three free throws to make it 53-44 before Brimah dunked and Boatright hit twice from the line but the Mustangs closed the game by making 9-of-10 from the foul line.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Boatright had two points on 0-of-8 shooting for the Huskies, who had a field-goal drought of more than 10 minutes and shot 20.8 percent in the first half. ... G Sterling Brown grabbed 12 rebounds for SMU, who finished with a 43-30 edge in capturing its first conference tournament title since 1988. ... Moreira made 5-of-7 and Kennedy 5-of-6 as the Mustangs finished 25-of-31 at the line.
Top Game Performances
| Connecticut |
|
Southern Methodist |
|
Rodney Purvis 29 |
Scoring |
Markus Kennedy 15 |
|
Daniel Hamilton 3 |
Assists |
Nic Moore 3 |
|
Daniel Hamilton 10 |
Rebounds |
Sterling Brown 12 |
|
Ryan Boatright 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Markus Kennedy 5 |
|
Rodney Purvis 1 |
Steals |
Markus Kennedy 1 |
|
Amida Brimah 7 |
Blocks |
Sterling Brown 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Connecticut
|
54 |
32.7 |
6-25 |
16-21 |
6 |
22 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
| Southern Methodist
|
62 |
35.3 |
1-9 |
25-31 |
9 |
40 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
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