Syracuse Scrapes by Louisiana Tech

By Nicole Todd

 

In the paint (c.) Nicole Todd

Syracuse, N.Y- The Syracuse Orange scraped by with a win against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 71-69, Sunday afternoon at the Carrier Dome, escaping a third straight early season loss. After the Bulldogs (7-3) had erased a ten-point deficit to tie the game at 69, center Rakeem Christmas banked home a shot in the lane with four seconds left and SU (6-3) hung on.

 

It wasn’t pretty, but two veteran players, Christmas and Trevor Cooney stepped up, bringing to mind their comments on ACC Media Day in Charlotte N.C. before the season began.

 



 

 

Cooney and his 3s

“I like being known as the shooter," Cooney said then.



Cooney had a season high 25 points Sunday with four 3-pointers.  He was 4-8 on 3s and 8-18 overall.  It was Cooney’s best game since last year against Notre Dame when he had career-high 33-points.  His first of four made 3-pointers Sunday came on an assist from Christmas with 14:18 to go in the first half to give SU the lead 14-12.

"I missed my first 3, but made the next one, it's all about staying positive," Cooney said.

Trevor Cooney (c.) Josh Carney



Sunday’s was the third highest scoring game of Cooney’s career.  He had 27-points last year against Cornell.

"Trevor played how he had to and he doesn't have to prove it to me," Coach Jim Boeheim said.  "He looked confident shooting threes today."

 

The Big Man as leader

Christmas said before the season that he wanted to step up more and take the lead. "I want to become more vocal on the court," he said, adding that he knew he needed to work on his communication skills with teammates both on and off the court.

He has been the Orange’s leading scorer (16.4) and had six points in the first five minutes of the game, including a huge one-handed dunk in response to Michale Kyser’s dunk just seconds before.  That brought the score to 8-8.

But both SU big men, Christmas and Chris McCullough had foul difficulties. McCullough fouled out late in the second half. Christmas sat more than ten minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul. He then picked up his fourth with more than ten minutes left in the game and sat again before coming back in at the 5:35 mark.

 

Gbinije out, Roberson helps

 

Michael Gbinije had two points and two assists in 14

Tyler Roberson made the most of his 33 minutes with 14-points and 17 rebounds - both career highs.  He was happy with the win but not with how the Orange played.

Tyler Roberson (c.) Josh Carney

 

"It wasn't our best game. We were up 10 points then gave it up, that can't happen," Roberson said.

minutes in the first half but sat out the entire second half.  “His back was tight,” Boeheim said.

Turnovers

With the Bulldogs pressuring SU and the Orange trapping Louisiana Tech, each team had 17 turnovers and eight of the Syracuse turnovers came from point guard Kaleb Joseph.



Fans anticipating a win with 2.8 seconds left (c) Nicole Todd



“Kaleb made some really good plays today,” Boeheim said. “But he can’t make those unforced (turnovers.)”

“This team is not anywhere near a good basketball team. Anywhere!” Boeheim said. “And I’ve never said that since I’ve been here.”

Next for the Orange

Syracuse is now 6-3 (5-1 at home) and will play at No. 7 Villanova on Saturday.