Dyson leads rescue party

Hartford - Call it the Firemen's Response.

UConn waits until it smells smoke before sounding the alarm and finally responding with a sense of urgency to rescue a victory.

It happened again Tuesday in a 71-54 victory over Maine at the XL Center.

In trouble early in the second half, the 11th-ranked Huskies answered the call with a 25-7 run that turned the non-conference game in their favor.

They did almost exactly the same thing Sunday to escape with a nine-point win over Central Florida, which held a five-point halftime lead.

"You can't keep doing that," coach Jim Calhoun. "It's just a bad pattern. Let's get ahead 12-0. … It's a bad habit. We're not that good yet. We lost four very good players (from last year). We're not that experienced just to turn it on any time you want.

"That's the biggest concern of mine."

Fortunately for the Huskies (8-2), they survived in their final game before a brief Christmas break. Senior Jerome Dyson helped bail out his team, scoring 22 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. Senior Stanley Robinson had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

A smothering defense, which limited Maine (5-5) to an icy 28.6 percent, fueled the turnaround. So did an improving 3-point shooting attack as the Huskies hit a season-high tying eight from beyond the arc, including seven in the second half.

"They stepped up in the second half for the second consecutive game," said Maine coach Ted Woodward, a former assistant under Calhoun for three seasons from 1986-89. "Once they made a little run it was going to be very difficult to catch them.

"Coach Calhoun will get them exactly where he wants them. … Obviously, I think they're going to be a very good basketball team."

Also for the second consecutive game, the Huskies played down to their level of competition. This was a Maine team that lost at Syracuse by 46 points earlier this month.

"I don't know what it is, but we've got to figure it out," said freshman Alex Oriakhi who had a career-high tying 14 rebounds, six points and four blocks.

"We've got to start playing every team like they're the same as it's going to be a long season."

UConn reacted poorly to a 2-3 zone in the first half. The Huskies committed eight of their 16 turnovers and misfired to the tune of 32.1 percent (9-for-28). Maine shot an ugly 8-for-33 and had nine turnovers.

Appropriately enough, the score was deadlocked at 26 at the break.

Some of the XL Center crowd reacted, booing as the Huskies left the floor.

"I'm always disappointed (to hear boos) because I don't think that you should boo college kids," Calhoun said.

"The way we played, I was probably doing a little bit of that under my breath myself."

Maine built its biggest lead of the game, 33-30, on a Terrance Mitchell 3-pointer with 18 minutes remaining. Then the alarmed Huskies smelled smoke and responded.

Robinson buried a 3-pointer to start an 11-2 run. Senior Gavin Edwards converted a tip-in and Dyson hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

Feeding off turnovers and running off rebounds, the Huskies sprinted away.

Freshman Kemba Walker's rebound basket - his only field goal during a rough 1-for-10 shooting night - capped the 25-7 run and increased the lead to 55-40 with 9:19 remaining. UConn made 15-of-29 field goals after intermission.

The fire had been finally put out.

"It was really up to us in the second half whether we were going to come out and play or not," said Dyson who accounted for 17 of his team's first 36 points after intermission.

Freshman Ater Majok played fairly well coming off a shaky debut Sunday. If not for foul trouble, he would have done better than five points, four rebounds and two blocks.

Freshman reserve Jamal Coombs-McDaniel scored seven of his eight points in the first half to help keep UConn afloat.