Storrs - For a brief moment, senior Ryan Boatright didn't feel any pain after falling to the floor in front of the Texas bench in the dramatic final seconds of Sunday's showdown.

Just one more defensive stop would give No. 24 UConn a valuable victory.

With a helpless Boatright down with a twisted left ankle and defense caught out of position, the seventh-ranked Longhorns delivered a painful blow.

Senior Jonathan Holmes buried an open 3-pointer from the corner with two seconds left to hand the Huskies a tough 55-54 loss at Gampel Pavilion, where a non-conference team hadn't won since 2001. The Storrs streak ended at 44 straight wins.

"It was crazy," Boatright said. "When I rolled it and I was falling, I'm watching him the whole time. It was like slow motion.

"As I'm watching the ball go through the air, I didn't even feel my ankle. It was numb. As soon as I saw the ball go through the basket… the pain just went crazy. It was a great play. He made a tough shot."

UConn (3-2) will likely recover from its second straight defeat faster than it takes for Boatright, the team's inspirational leader and leading scorer, to bounce back from his injury.

After scoring a game-high 24 points, Boatright needed help to leave the floor after the final buzzer and used crutches to come meet with the media. He'll go for x-rays today.

"It just felt like a normal ankle sprain…," said Boatright, who first tweaked his ankle with about six minutes left. "I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll be back. It's nothing major to the point that I'm going to miss two or three games. I don't know if I'm going to play Friday (against Yale), but I'm going to do my best to get back."

The loss hurt on several levels.

UConn lost out on a great opportunity to add a win over a top 10 team to its resume. Playing with their usual competitive heart, the Huskies overcame a 7-point second-half deficit to take a six-point lead with six minutes left.

They played gritty defense, limiting the Longhorns (6-0) to a season-low 37 percent shooting, and won the battle of the boards, 36-35, against a team that came in out-rebounding foes by 14.2 per game.

But offensive woes led to their demise, as they converted a season-low 30 percent. They didn't score a field goal in the final 6:52. They missed starter Rodney Purvis, who sat out with an ankle injury.

"It was all heart and hustle that kept us in that game," sophomore Kentan Facey said. "Imagine if we were shooting better. That would have put the game away."

Only Boatright and freshman Daniel Hamilton, who scored 13 points but none in the final 15:33, hit double figures.

"We played hard," coach Kevin Ollie said. "We had the game. We needed to get one more stop. We just came up a little short. … We can't expect to win games shooting 30 percent. A valiant effort by our guys, but we've got to get better."

The Huskies contributed to their downfall by committing two rebound fouls that stopped the clock down the stretch and sent the Longhorns to the foul line.

"(That) really hurt us and got them back in the game," Ollie said.

Still, the outcome was in UConn's hands.

After Javan Felix's driving basket cut the deficit to 53-52, Boatright went to the foul line with 15 seconds left. But he made just one of two shots and Texas called timeout with 4.4 seconds remaining.

On the game winning play, Holmes was the second option. He used a screen to shake Hamilton and spring free.

"That's about as good a look that you're going to get with four seconds left," said Holmes, who finished with a team-high 13 points and went 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.

The Huskies walked away without any reward for their hard work.

"That one hurt…," Facey said. "We fought hard for two halves. To lose on a shot like that with four seconds to go, that's tough. That one is hard to swallow."

Texas, on the other hand, headed home with a sweet victory.

"I have so much respect for this program and what it stands for," said Rick Barnes, who coached at Providence before going to Texas. "And I know how hard it is to come in here and win."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe