Trouble in paradise

LAHAINA, Hawaii – The only guy who couldn’t describe the shot that beat Gonzaga in Wednesday night’s championship game of the EA Sports Maui Invitational was the guy who took it.

The University of Connecticut’s Denham Brown, according to his coach Jim Calhoun, thought the “lay-up” he made over the outstretched arm of GU with just over a second left in the game was a pretty nice shot.

“He’ll remember the shot a lot better when he sees the video,” Calhoun said following his 3rd-ranked Huskies hard-earned 65-63 win over the 8th-ranked Bulldogs in the Lahaina Civic Center. “It was actually a hook shot, not a layup.”

From about 8-feet away along the left baseline, to be a bit more precise.

But no matter how you describe it, it buried GU’s hopes of a Maui title and brought another wonderfully entertaining game to a close.

After almost 40 minutes of defensive brawling, UConn (4-0), with the scored tied at 63 and a mere 6.6 seconds left on the clock, found itself facing an inbounds pass at Gonzaga’s end of the court. The Huskies got the ball to Brown, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, who dribbled toward the left corner, darted toward the baseline, spun and lifted a soft little hook shot over Morrison to decide the game.

“I knew I had the time to get to the basket and make the play,” said Brown, who finished with just nine points. “I saw the double-team coming, just shook (Morrison) a little bit and got a shot off.”

There really didn’t seem to be much more the Zags (3-1) could have done to stop it.

“Adam did a tremendous job of defending a great one-on-one player in the open floor,” GU coach Mark Few said. “(Brown) just hit a big-time shot.”

And it hurt even worse because of the way the Bulldogs, despite some suspect shooting, had battled back from a 58-50 deficit with just over 7 minutes left to tie the game at 63 on a pair of J.P. Batista free throws prior to Brown’s decisive bucket.

“Obviously, it was another great game,” Few said. “I’m proud of my guys. Once again, I’m proud of them for their effort throughout the whole tournament.

“And I tip my had to UConn. That’s a tough team that’s battle-tested and hard to score on. They challenge every shot.”

Every dribble and pass, as well, it seemed.

And no one can attest to that as well as Derek Raivio, the Zags’ junior point guard, who made only two of 12 shots and finished with eight points – 15 under his average – against the suffocating on-ball defense of UConn freshman Craig Austrie.

Without Raivio’s offensive production, the Bulldogs went primarily to Morrison, the tournament’s most valuable player, and Batista, another all-tournament selection for their points.

Batista responded with 19, while Morrison added 18.

But there weren’t enough other offensive options – especially after 6-11 redshirt freshman Josh Heytvelt, a backup forward, went down with an ankle or foot injury midway through the first half and never returned – for Few to call on.

Few said Heytvelt’s injury did not appear to be in the same spot as the stress reaction that had sidelined him throughout most of fall camp.

Heytvelt was taken to a hospital after the game to have his left foot x-rayed.

UConn, in winning its first in-season tournament under Calhoun’s direction, got 14 points from backup guard Rashad Anderson and 11 from backup freshman forward Jeff Adrien. Rudy Gay, the Huskies’ super sophomore, finished with 10 points while playing only 21 minutes because of some early foul problems.

The Zags were down by only 33-31 at halftime despite shooting an uncharacteristic 38.9 percent (14-36) and making only one of six 3-pointers.

What kept them close was some blue-collar work on the boards that led to a 22-16 first-period rebounding advantage that helped offset UConn’s 52.2 percent (12-23) shooting.

And had it not been for some uncanny outside shooting by Anderson, the Bulldogs might have even been leading at intermission. But Anderson nailed three of four long 3-pointers and finished the half with 14 points.

“The good thing about this loss is it’s only November,” Morrison said. “It’s early. Good win by UConn, but we can get better. I think we learned now we can make (defensive) stops and we can outrebound people.”

The Zags will spend Thanksgiving in Maui before flying back to the mainland on Friday to prepare for their next game, a 5 p.m. matchup against the Portland State Vikings in the McCarthey Athletic Center next Wednesday.

(3) Connecticut 65, (8) Gonzaga 63

Connecticut (4-0) – Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 5-9 1-2 14, Armstrong Jr. 2-4 1-5 5, Brown 4-11 0-0 9, Boone 3-6 2-2 8, Gay Jr. 5-10 0-1 10, Adrien 4-6 3-3 11, Austrie 1-4 3-5 6, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Garrison 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 25-53 10-18 65.

Gonzaga (3-1) – Mallon 2-4 0-0 5, Morrison 8-19 0-0 18, Raivio 2-12 4-4 8, Altidor-Cespedes 1-1 0-0 3, Batista 7-16 5-6 19, Pendergraft 2-3 0-0 4, Heytvelt 0-3 0-0 0, Diallo 0-0 0-0 0, Gurganious 2-4 0-1 4, Pargo 1-6 0-0 2. Totals 25-68 9-11 63.

Halftime—Connecticut 33, Gonzaga 31. 3-Point Goals—Connecticut 5-15 (Anderson 3-4, Austrie 1-3, Brown 1-5, Gay Jr. 0-3), Gonzaga 4-13 (Morrison 2-3, Mallon 1-1, Altidor-Cespedes 1-1, Pendergraft 0-1, Raivio 0-7). Fouled Out—Pendergraft. Rebounds—Connecticut 33 (Armstrong Jr. 7), Gonzaga 44 (Batista 8). Assists—Connecticut 11 (Austrie 4), Gonzaga 10 (Raivio 4). Total Fouls—Connecticut 16, Gonzaga 17. A—2,400.