HARTFORD, Conn. — Baye Moussa Keita threw his hands in the air, a reaction equal parts exasperation and befuddlement following yet another 3-pointer by Connecticut. His sprint to the far right corner moments earlier — a strange place for the man whose job is to defend the center of coach Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone — was futile, and Omar Calhoun stuck the first of his back-to-back daggers.

The penetration from UConn’s guards had the zone so twisted, so manipulated and inverted that by the time Ryan Boatright found Calhoun in the corner, the Syracuse center was forced to lunge at him in an attempt to make a wide-open shot just mostly open instead.

Calhoun’s shot was part of a dizzying stretch in which the Huskies hit four of five 3-pointers to widen a two-point lead into a nine-point cushion, and ultimately deliver the final blow of this rivalry’s final game. The crowd of 13,518 roared with delight as Connecticut (17-6, 7-4 Big East) outshot No. 6 Syracuse (20-4, 8-3), pulling a 66-58 upset that ensured final bragging rights remained in the XL Center.

“It feels great because they came in with their swag, their attitude and they thought they were going to blow us out of the gym,” Boatright said. “We hit them first. In the second half, they thought they were going to make a run, and we responded.”

Syracuse stormed out of the gates in the second half and quickly erased a five-point deficit on its first three possessions, issuing a big counterpunch in a game that featured 15 lead changes.

But C.J. Fair’s jumper that put the Orange a point ahead was nullified 18 seconds later when Boatright connected from beyond the arc to snatch the lead right back. The Huskies would only trail once more.

They relied on their guards, Boatright and Shabazz Napier, to slice into the 2-3 zone and force Syracuse into catch-22 situations. Collapse on the penetrator and leave a shooter open on the wing, or stay at home and be beaten by floaters from the highest-scoring duo in the Big East.

“It’s about who is running it,” senior guard Brandon Triche said. “I think when you have Kemba Walker running it, who is very prolific with the ball, then you have Boatright and Napier with the ball, they’re very low to the ground and hard to guard. They cause a lot of attention from at least two guys, which is going to leave one guy open.”

And Wednesday that guy was Calhoun, the freshman from New York City who said the Huskies sent Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast Conference “with a taste of UConn in their mouth.” He finished with 15 points, 11 of which came in the second half, and nine of which were poured in from beyond the arc.

After Niels Giffey buried a 3 in front of the Huskies bench, Calhoun followed up with three triples of his own. The outside-inside-outside passing by Connecticut was brilliant, forcing the zone to move and collapse, move and collapse until the freshman from New York worked his way free on the perimeter.

“I thought Connecticut did a tremendous job in terms of getting into the middle and getting the ball out to the 3-point shooters,” Boehim said. “They made all their key shots in the second-half run.”

By the time Calhoun’s final 3 splashed through, UConn led by nine with 6:13 to go. The team with nothing to play for — the Huskies are ineligible for the Big East and NCAA tournaments — suddenly had everything to gain with the biggest win of the season just a few possessions away.

That’s why the crowd roared as the final seconds ticked away, applauding their team for knocking off an archrival one last time. That’s why the Connecticut players posed for pictures at center court, soaking in the moment that will likely come to define their season. And that’s why Boatright, who poured in a game-high 17 points, hugged and kissed his mother as he left the XL Center floor.

This was the Huskies’ title game, and they won.

Said Triche: “If you’re not playing for anything, then playing against one of the best teams in the conference and the country would probably mean a lot.”

Published on February 13, 2013 at 9:07 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13