Josh Carlton Scores 20 Points to Lead UConn Past ECU 76-52
UConn got 20 points and 16 rebounds from Josh Carlton to go along with 18 points from Christian Vital in an easy 76-52 win over ECU Sunday afternoon in the XL Center in Hartford.
Sid Wilson scored twelve and Tarin Smith added eleven points in the victory for UConn.
K.J. Davis was the lone Pirate in double figures with twelve points. Jayden Gardner and Shawn Williams added nine points each for ECU (9-12/2-7 AAC).
After the game, Joe Dooley assessed Carlton’s performance.
“He dominated the game. I thought he was a factor along the post. He was a little bit more deliberate and made some shots,” Joe Dooley said after the game, “We put him on the free throw line and the thing that he did was he dug out a couple of loose balls and turn them into points.”
“Our offense, we took more bad shots in the first half than we have in a long time,” said Dooley.
Tyler Foster scored eight points all in the first thirteen minutes of the contest to lead ECU in the first half including a dunk that kept ECU within reach at 16-15 before going hitless in the second half.
But Josh Carlton converted three straight times and a Tarin Smith basket gave UConn a 32-26 halftime lead. Carlton had a double-double with twelve points and ten boards in the first twenty minutes alone to lead the Huskies.
Jayden Gardner was held to just three points in the first half for ECU that hit just 33 percent of their shots including just 1-8 from the arc.
Five straight points from Smith including a deep three-pointer extended the UConn(13-9/4-5 AAC) lead to twelve with twelve minutes to play.
Carlton and the Huskies continued to abuse ECU in the paint and the Pirates had little answer on the offensive end of the court as the lead grew to twenty at 65-45 with five minutes remaining.
ECU was held to just 33 percent from the floor including just 4 of 15 from three-point land by a UConn team that connected on 49 percent from the floor, 35 percent from the arc and hit 18 of 23 from the stripe. The Huskies dominated the glass 44-25 against a Pirate team that committed 19 turnovers.
