NEW YORK — Tyrese Martin sauntered over to midcourt, grinning ear to ear, raised a finger to his mouth and shushed the St. John’s faithful at Madison Square Garden. The guard had just hit his third 3 in a little over two minutes, with the last one putting UConn up by three with 12:49 to play. It was just that kind of day for Martin.
The Huskies, led by Martin’s 17 second-half points, defeated St. John’s 63-60 on Sunday afternoon. Guard R.J Cole added in 14 points and Isaiah Whaley did all the little things with 11 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.
With a chance to tie the score at 63-all, the Red Storm’s Aaron Wheeler missed the 3 to end the game.
With 21 seconds left in the game, Martin hit a layup on an offensive rebound to put UConn up 61-57. Immediately afterward, Wheeler answered with a 3 to cut the lead to 61-60 with 14.3 seconds to go. Cole was fouled on the inbounds pass and hit both free throws in the one and one opportunity.
The second half belonged to Martin. After scoring zero points in the first half, he hit 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. As his teammates struggled on the offensive end, it was Martin who kept UConn afloat in the game. Overall he shot 6-for-13 and pulled down eight rebounds.
“I was making sure I came out being aggressive,” he said. “I let the game come to me in the second half.
From tipoff, sophomore Andre Jackson made his presence felt on the court. With Adama Sanogo in foul trouble early, Jackson did a little bit of everything in the first half. He controlled the pace, led fast-break opportunities and secured key rebounds. Even when he committed two turnovers, it was because he tried to pass the ball in tight spots. He had five points, eight rebounds and two assists at the half and finished with 16 rebounds for the game.
The No. 24 Huskies (17-7, 8-5 Big East) moved into third place in the conference behind Providence and Villanova. UConn finished off a hectic week with two victories ( Marquette and St. John’s) and one loss (Xavier) against conference opponents. St. John’s is now 13-11 and 5-8 in the conference.
UConn coach Dan Hurley felt good about the win.
“This was our fourth game in eight days and three of them are on the road, one of them was 36 hours ago. I was just really proud of the guys the way we won and our defense today,” he said.
Red Storm guard Posh Alexander was a game-time decision with an ankle injury but ultimately missed the game.
Madison Square Garden was filled with a healthy amount of UConn fans, and at one point in the second half a, “let’s go Huskies” chant broke out.
“It felt good to hear them make a 3, and then I came and made a 3,” Martin said. “It was like the same crowd; it got loud again. So, I was like, wow, guess they’re going for us in the Garden. It felt good in the Garden and to perform in front of fans. Last year, we played in the Big East Tournament with not as much fans, but today it felt great.”
Sanogo scored the Huskies’ first six points. At the 13:52 mark, he missed a fast-break layup, and a trailing Jackson came in to secure the second-chance opportunity with a putback dunk to put UConn up 11-9.
At 13:10, the Red Storm’s Montez Mathis dunked on the Huskies’ Samson Johnson, leading to some trash talk. Mathis and UConn’s Martin were both given technicals.
With a little less than 10 minutes in the half, Sanogo received his second foul. This was the second straight game where the forward found himself in early foul trouble. Cole led UConn with 10 points at the half.
The Huskies played tough defense, limiting the Red Storm to 13-for-38 first-half shooting (34.2%). Typically, UConn has a significant advantage in the rebounding margin, but St. John’s did a good job boxing out and being physical on the glass in the first half. The Huskies had 23 rebounds to the Red Storm’s 22 as UConn went into the half with a 30-29 lead.
At 14:53 of the second half, Martin hit a 3 to put UConn up 37-36. On the next possession, St. John’s Julian Champagnie answered with a 3 of his own. Martin then went right back and hit another 3. A couple of possessions later, he hit another 3. Every time it seemed the Huskies would hit a big shot, the Red Storm would answer with one of their own. The Huskies led 45-44 when a media timeout was taken at 11:21.
A little later, St. John’s went on an 8-0 run to take a 52-48 lead, which prompted a UConn timeout.
