Nov. 15, 2008

Box Score

Storrs, Conn. - Western Carolina closed to within 10 points in the first three minutes of the second half as the Catamounts battled back from a 13-0 start to the game, but second-ranked Connecticut had too many offensive weapons in an 81-55 season-opening win Friday night at the Gampel Pavilion.

UConn put together a 22-to-6 run, including an 11-0 spurt, after the Catamounts had closed within 10 to pull away for the win, its 91st-straight at Gampel against non-conference foes in the months of November and December. WCU dropped to 0-10 all-time against teams from the Big East while dropping its first season-opener under fourth-year head coach Larry Hunter (3-1).

Junior Brandon Giles led a trio of Catamounts in double figures with 16 points to extend his current streak of double-digit scoring outings to 19-straight games. Classmate Jake Robinson continued a similar streak with his fifth-straight game in double figures with 10 points while red-shirt freshman Harouna Mutombo scored 11 in his collegiate debut.

UConn raced to a 13-0 lead in the game's opening five minutes before Robinson drained his first of two 3-pointers to trim the deficit to 10, 13-3. The lead hovered in double-digits the remainder of the opening half, reaching 18 four times before the break. The Huskies took a 15-point, 40-25, lead into intermission.

Out of the halftime locker room, WCU (0-1) used consecutive buckets in the paint by sophomore forward Richie Gordon - who was working against the 7-foot-3 reigning national Defensive Player of the Year, Hasheem Thabeet - and a triple by Giles to close to within 10, 42-32. Yet, that was as close as the Catamounts would pull as Connecticut inched ahead by double figures before extending the deficit above 20 midway through the half.

For the Huskies (1-0), Hasheem Thabeet and Jerome Dyson each scored 23 points while Jeff Adrien added 14 and Craig Austrie nine. Thabeet pulled down a career-best 17 rebounds in double-double fashion, adding five of UConn's seven blocked shots as a team.

After finishing the season with eight players on roster a season ago, a combined 13 Catamounts saw action in the opener, nine of which scored points. The taller Huskies only managed a 42-31 edge on the boards, but did shoot 50.9-percent as compared to Western's 34.4-percent.

Western Carolina opens its home slate on Thursday night, hosting Toccoa Falls in the Ramsey Center. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm.