Fierce defense and consistentshooting by Ben Gordon dashed Georgia Tech’s hopes of a 2004championship title Monday night.
The University ofConnecticut ran offwith their second championship, sweeping the Yellow Jackets82-73.
UConn established control of the contest early, taking Georgia Techon a high-speed goose chase to control the tempo of the game. TheYellow Jackets shot only 28 percent in the first half.
Georgia Tech was 24-0 this season when they held their opponents to70 points or less, but strong inside offense by junior center EmekaOkafor gave Connecticut one oftheir many edges.
Okafor, who was honored as the tournament’s most valuable player,had 24 points and 15 rebounds in Monday night’s game.
Georgia Tech’s only lead of the game came early in the first half12-11.
UConn’s Rashad Anderson shot the definitive basket of the firsthalf, a resounding buzzer-beater that sent the Huskies to thelocker room with the momentum and a 41-26 lead over the Hornets.However, Tech came back late in the second half with several loudthree pointers, knocking their 20-point deficit down to nine.The win made Huskies coach Jim Calhoun the eleventh coach to wintwo NCAA finals. Calhoun took the Huskies and won in 1999 when theybeat Duke for the title.