Amida Brimah (35) and Kentan Facey (12) of UConn keep Charleston's Anthony Stitt off balance in the first half on Thursday in a first-round game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament

Amida Brimah (35) and Kentan Facey (12) of UConn keep Charleston’s Anthony Stitt off balance in the first half on Thursday in a first-round game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament

The UConn Huskies men’s basketball team got off a fast start once again only to see their lead dwindle down when they went cold.

However, they would recover behind Daniel Hamilton in the first half and Ryan Boatright and Amida Brimah in the second half as they went on to beat the College of Charleston Cougars 65-57 in the quarterfinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic.

UConn (3-0) moves on to the semifinals where they’ll face the Dayton Flyers Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Charleston will play Texas A&M in the loser’s bracket.

Boatright led the way for the Huskies with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. Hamilton added 15 points and five rebounds while Brimah had 14 points and four rebounds.

Rodney Purvis officially made his UConn debut and finished with nine points and a team-high four turnovers.

Anthony Stitt paced Charleston with 17 points while Adjehi Baru had a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds before suffering an apparent knee injury late in the game.

Joe Chealey chipped in with 12 points as well with Canyon Barry rounding out the Cougars in double figures with 10 points.

photo credit: patrick raycroft – hartford courant