By Kim J. Harmon

A mighty sluggish start to the Rising Stars Summer Basketball championship last Friday at Treadwell Park transformed into a mighty thrilling finish as UConn held off UCLA in the waning moments for the title.

A 10-point, second-half UConn lead disappeared as UCLA on a 12-2 run (finished off by a three-pointer by PJ Cochrane with 1:05 to go) to tie the score, 43-43. But David Bray’s baby hook in the paint with 28 seconds to go lifted UConn to the win.

Ryan Wilson put UConn on top, 2-0, just seconds after the opening tip but the two squads – coached by Ed White (UConn) and Adam Drummond (UCLA) – fell into a drought that, despite some fine passing, resulted in no baskets.

Wilson came back later with a free throw to put UConn ahead, 3-0, but Ryan Drummond and Xhulio Halili canned back-to-back baskets to lift UCLA into a brief, 4-3 lead. The two teams traded baskets (Matt Boland for UConn and Max Paynter for UCLA), but then UConn went a 6-0 run on baskets by Ryan Golankiewicz (2) and Trevor Todd to take an 11-6 lead.

 Drummond and Paynter hit baskets to trim the UConn lead to one, 11-10. Although Boland and Todd canned baskets to help UConn stay on top, UCLA was shifting the momentum with a couple of baskets by Paynter (one a nifty reverse layup) and a couple of baskets by Cochrane.

UCLA held a three-point lead, 20-17, before the momentum shifted back.

Wilson hit a pair of free throws for UConn to close the first half and came back early in the second half with slick move and basket in lane to put UConn back up, 21-20. Boland and Bray also hit baskets to put their team ahead, 25-20.

A three-pointer by Paynter briefly stopped the bleeding, but UConn got back to work with a three-pointer by Golankiewicz and baskets by Wilson and Boland to take a 32-23 lead. Paynter hit another three-pointer and added a pull-up jumper in the lane to trim that lead to 32-28, but UConn extended its lead to 41-31 with a 9-3 run fueled by a basket from Bray, a three-pointer from Golankiewicz, and a low post bucket by Golankiewicz.

The game seemed to be in the bag.

But UCLA started to get hot.

Cochrane went coast-to-coast for a basket to start the 12-2 run that would eventually tie the score with less than 30 seconds to go. Drummond added a jumper in the lane, Jimmy O’Brien popped in back-to-back buckets, Drummond came back with a foul shot, and Cochrane finished things off with a three-pointer from the top of the key.

That last basket was made possible by several nice passes as UCLA sought the open man.

But UConn was not going to be denied. Bray, who had a tremendous game off the boards (pulling down somewhere around 15 rebounds), popped in a hook shot with 28 seconds to go to keep UCLA at bay and earn UConn the Rising Stars Summer Basketball championship.

Paynter led all scorers on the evening with 16 points (including two treys).

For UConn, Wilson scored 13 points and Golankiewicz added 12. Bray and Boland chipped in with eight points apiece and Todd contributed four.

For UCLA, Cochrane canned 14 points while Drummond had seven, O’Brien had four, and Halili had two.