HARTFORD, CT – The Saint Peter's men's basketball team outscored the Connecticut Huskies in the second half, but the late heroics weren't enough to pull off the upset as the Peacocks fell 66-56 on Wednesday night. The freshman trio of
Aaron Estrada,
Daryl Banks III, and
Fousseyni Drame combined to score 30 points to lead the Peacocks in the game.
How it Happened
- The Peacocks hung in the contest early on.
- Trailing 4-0, Doug Edert hit a three-pointer to pull within one point of the Huskies.
- It remained a one possession game following a Hassan Drame layup and jumper from Banks.
- A triple by H. Drame would tie the game at 10-10 near the 12 minute media mark and then the momentum would shift in the home teams favor.
- UConn would outscore Saint Peter's 25-6, with runs of 8-0 and 14-2, over the game's next nine minutes, putting the Peacocks behind by 19 points (35-16) with a little over three minutes left in the half.
- The Peacocks would trail 40-22 at the break.
- Saint Peter's fell behind by 23 points five minutes into the second half (49-26), but Banks got hot, scoring eight of the next 12 Peacock points to put the visitors behind 53-38.
- Following Banks barrage of buckets, F. Drame scored four straight points behind consecutive highlight reel dunks. One coming by way of a drive and one-handed poster dunk over two Huskie defenders. The next was a two-handed putback dunk after he collected an offensive rebound.
- With 5:30 remaining, Saint Peter's trailed 62-44, facing an 18-point deficit.
- The Peacocks would make a late 12-4 push, but the defeat was inevitable as time ran out with the scoreboard reading 66-56.
Inside the Numbers
- Estrada led the Peacocks with a game-high 12 points, Banks followed with a career-high 10-points, while F. Drame added eight points.
- Saint Peter's forced UConn to their season-most 26 turnovers and made seven different Huskies turn the ball over at least three times on the night.
- The Peacocks outscored the Huskies 34-26 in the second half, making it the sixth straight contest that the team hasn't been outscored in the final 20 minutes --- the season opener was the lone game the Peacocks lost the second half scoring battle.
Coach's Quotes - Shaheen Holloway
On the team's play...
- "I thought we started out pretty good. Then he made some subs and called a timeout. He turned the defense up and we got a little rattled. Little disappointing because my team is better than what we showed tonight. Have to give credit to UConn, very good team, very well coached. I thought they handled are guards, changed the whole game around. Something to build on towards the end. I'm not that type of coach, I didn't expect to come and dominate, but I thought we would've come in and competed harder than what we did."
On the turnovers by both teams...
- "I thought we did a good job forcing turnovers as well. We just couldn't get in the offense. I told my guys the first 60 – 70 seconds was crucial, and I thought we played the first time out. Then the tv timeout happened and they turned the defense up."
On thoughts about UConn defending Saint Peter's three-point shot...
- "I thought they did a good job on Edert; he's one of my best shooters, they did a good job denying him and not letting him touch it. I told him it was going to happen. He's a better driver than he looks, so I told him once they get on him to drive it and create something. He got frozen. Today we just didn't have a rhyme going. We couldn't get going. Derrick woods didn't get his rhythm going. So that's what happened. When you have young guys, freshmen, some games they play really well some games they don't and unfortunately this was one of those games."
Up Next
- The Peacocks remain on the road, heading to LIU on Sunday, Dec. 22 for a noon tip.
- The game will be played at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, NY.
