HARTFORD, Conn. – The ball was loose under the basket with 21 seconds left in overtime at the XL Center on Tuesday, the shot clock winding down on a critical possession for the UConn men’s basketball team. Tarris Reed Jr. picked it up off the floor and quickly flipped the ball up over the rim, where it balanced until the shot clock buzzer went off and then fell through to give the Huskies a four-point cushion over Butler.

Jahmyl Telfort, who scored nine of the Bulldogs’ 10 points in the second half, cut their deficit to two with 10 seconds to go but his game-winning attempt hit off the top of the backboard as the final buzzer sounded.

The 80-78 victory helped the No. 19 Huskies improve to 14-5 on the year and 6-2 in Big East play. It was their ninth game this season decided by five points or less, and their fifth victory in such games.

UConn is now 11-0 in its all-time series against Butler (8-11, 1-7 Big East).

Ball, who made a 3-pointer that felt like a knockout blow with 1:39 on the clock in overtime and then missed the front end of a one-and-one to give Telfort another shot at the end, finished with a career-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Alex Karaban scored five of his 19 points in overtime and added seven rebounds, six assists and three blocks.

Centers Samson Johnson and Reed scored 14 points a piece.

Five minutes in, Reed, who was challenged by Dan Hurley after a stretch of rough outings, ripped away an offensive rebound and scored a layup, igniting the crowd and elating his coach, who ran over and embraced Aidan Mahaney at the scorer’s table. On the defensive end, Karaban swatted a 3-point attempt from Patrick McCaffery and passed ahead to Ball for a layup in transition, prompting Hurley to smack the scorer’s table in celebration.

That series, which put the Huskies up by nine less than six minutes in, set the tone for most of the first half.

Ball scored 15 points in the opening period, knocking down 3 of 7 attempts from beyond the arc. He rebounded a couple of his own misses and was able to salvage those possessions with points, as well. UConn continued to show off its transition offense, forcing three turnovers in a two-minute span and capitalizing to grow the lead to 15 with four and a half minutes until the break.

The Huskies didn’t make another field goal for the rest of the half and allowed a 9-0 Butler run, but Ball got to the line after a second-chance layup attempt to send UConn into the break with a 39-31 advantage.

In an inspired defensive effort early, UConn blocked seven shots in the first half and held the Bulldogs to 40.7% shooting from the field.

Butler’s Jahmyl Telfort denied any opportunity for the Huskies to pull away through much of the second half, powering to the rim as he scored 10 points after the break. He cut UConn’s lead to four around the eight-minute mark, but Jayden Ross finished a tough layup through contact and Ball nailed his fourth 3-pointer of the night to bring the Huskies’ advantage back to nine.

But UConn’s defense slipped from the first half. In another three-minute offensive slump, the Huskies got sloppy and let Butler back into it again. The Bulldogs took advantage of the miscues and put together an 11-1 scoring run, giving them their first lead of the game after a 3-pointer and a layup from Finley Bizjack (17 points) with four minutes to go.

The Bulldogs didn’t make another shot from the field in regulation but got enough from the free throw line to have the score tied in the final seconds. Hassan Diarra, who missed a desperation shot on what appeared to be UConn’s final possession, stole Butler’s inbound pass with 2.5 seconds left in regulation and came inches away from nailing a half court heave for the win.

UConn is back on the road this weekend, meeting Xavier in Cincinnati for an 8 p.m. ET tip on Saturday. The Musketeers took the Huskies to overtime at the XL Center when they met on Dec. 18, a 94-89 UConn win.

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