By Dylan Butler
But Monday, both University of Connecticut point guards were linked in a strange way. The No. 1 ranked women's team fell at Notre Dame, 92-76, at South Bend and the men lost later that night, 60-56, at the University of Texas. It was the first time since Mar. 7, 1993 that both UConn teams fell on the same day.
“I'm personally embarrassed,” said Bird, who scored 17 points and added six assists in the women's team first-ever loss to Notre Dame. “A lot of people did come out to play on our team, but collectively, no way. We just didn't play the way we normally can play.”
Brown had nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and added three assists. But it was two of his three turnovers in the final 40 seconds that proved to be the difference as the Huskies dropped their second straight.
With the game tied at 54, Brown was stripped by the seldom-used Fredie Williams on an attempted cross-over at the top of the key. Williams missed the layup, but James Thomas was there for the putback to give Texas a 56-54 lead.
Brown raced back down court and looked to take the ball to the hole again, but Williams again stripped the freshman point guard. Falling out of bounds, Willaims tipped the ball to Darren Kelly, who was fouled by Brown. Kelly nailed both free throws with :30.2 seconds left to give the Longhorns a 58-54 lead.
“I can promise you, Taliek Brown is not the reason we lost the game,” Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. “The game started to turn when we threw a very poor pass to Souleymane who was going out of bounds.”
Fellow Queens freshman guard Royal Ivey started his 10th game for Texas, but played just 13 minutes, going 2-for-2 from the field for four points and one assist. While he wasn't on the court at the end of the game, the former Cardozo standout was the first one off the bench to initiate a post-game celebration.
It has been a rough week for Brown after having a fantastic game against Omar Cook and St. John's Jan. 6. He had eight points and seven assists, but guarded by the feisty John Linehan, had eight turnovers in 32 minutes in the Huskies 81-68 loss at Providence Saturday afternoon.
Queens native Karim Shabazz led the way for the Friars with 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots.
SJU Soccer News
St. John's senior defender Adam Maurer was selected in the second round of the National Professional Soccer League by the Philadelphia KiXX. The draft, which was held last Wednesday, consisted of a territorial pick for each team, plus four rounds.
Maurer helped anchor a Red Storm team that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament this season. One of the key defenders, Maurer helped St. John's post 10 shutouts. He scored an unassisted goal to give St. John's a 1-0 win over Duke at the UConn Classic earlier in Sept.
Maurer played his first three seasons at Fresno State, where he was named All-Western Athletic Conference in 1999 after scoring three goals.
Fellow defender Omar Chavez was invited to participate in the 2001 Umbro Select All-Star Tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. from Feb. 1-4. The tournament features the top collegiate seniors throughout the country.
Chavez started all 21 games for the Red Storm and had one goal and one assist, helping lead the team to a 14-5-2 record. He was named a first team All-Big East selection last year.
Men's Basketball
Baruch 62, York 60. The York men's basketball team's struggles continued Monday as the Cardinals fell to 0-3 in the conference.
York (5-7, 0-3) trailed by 16, but led by Stanley O'Neill, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds, rallied to take a 56-52 lead with 4:17 left in the game.
But Baruch (8-7, 4-2) came back and on a three pointer by John Alesi with just over one minute left, broke a 56-56 tie to lead the Statesmen to victory.
Women's Basketball
York 56, Hunter 52. Tamara Taylor led the Lady Cardinals with 17 points, Inesha Roberts added 14 points and 15 rebounds to lead York (10-3, 5-1 CUNY). Jezel Rodriguez led Hunter (7-6, 4-1) with 11 points.
Queensborough 59, Kingsborough 46. Anclin Perez had 30 points and Amoy Kirlew grabbed 18 rebounds for Queensborough (2-4, 1-0). Kingsborough fell to 0-4, 0-1.
