By Neill Ostrout
STAFF WRITER
HARTFORD _ Jimmy Butler hit a running jumper with 2.8 seconds left in a tie game and give Marquette a dramatic 70-68 win over 19th-ranked UConn Saturday afternoon.
Butler was unable to pass to teammate Darius Johnson-Odom as the Golden Eagle’s final play was apparently designed, so he drove toward the basket himself and hit a 12-foot fadeaway over the outstretched arms of UConn’s Gavin Edwards.
Jerome Dyson led the Huskies (13-8, 3-5) with 18 points. Kemba Walker had 15 points and six assists.
Butler led Marquette (13-8, 4-5) with 21 points and Lazar Hayward added 20, though Hayward fouled out with 1:51 left in the game.
Guiding the Huskies for the fourth game in a row in place of Jim Calhoun, George Blaney is now 2-2 as UConn’s acting head coach.
Dyson hit a long, tie-breaking 3-pointer with 54.8 seconds left in the game. But Dyson also made a near fatal error on the ensuing Marquette possession, fouling Johnson-Odom while he was shooting a three of his own. Johnson-Odom made all three of the free throws he was given with 41 seconds to play to tie the game at 68.
Walker then air-balled a short runner while driving the basket with 21 seconds left in the game and some 15 seconds left on the shot clock.
Butler blocked Kemba Walker’s shot on his drive to the basket with one minute to play but the UConn point guard gathered the deflection and fed it out to Dyson. Dyson, after realizing the shot clock had not reset, calmly drilled a 25-foot shot to put UConn ahead 68-65.
Edwards had 14 rebounds for the Huskies, who had a 21-8 edge on the backboards in the second half.
