Storm Warning: Syracuse Beats Wake Forest 83-55

Story and photos by Lindsey Horsting

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – There is no snow in Winston-Salem but red shirt senior guard Trevor Cooney created a storm of his own, Saturday afternoon, scoring 25 points on 7-for-14 shooting and six of the seven shots were from beyond the arc.  

Syracuse (12,7, 2-4) won it's second game in ACC play beating Coach Danny Manning's Wake Forest Demon Deacons (10-7, 1-4) 83-55. 

Cooney had plenty of help with three other Orange players scoring double figures and parade of players contributing on defense.

“We got help from everybody coming off the bench,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said.  “It was a tremendous effort for us and Wake Forest didn’t make shots and that’s something that’s hard to overcome; we’ve been there.”

First Half

Cooney set the tone of the game scoring the first 11 points in less than four minutes to give Syracuse an 11-4 lead.  His hot start opened opportunities for others to score, Cooney said. 

“We were able to get the ball inside, we were able to attack, able to kick, able to do offensively what we wanted today. We had good spacing, we set good screens, we worked together.”

Wake Forest played Syracuse after a tough loss to Virginia Tech 93-91 Wednesday.  Syracuse was firing on all cylinders and Wake Forest looked limp. 

Leading 20-11. Syracuse went on a 10-0 run with free throws and threes from Cooney and freshman forward Tyler Lydon.  Senior center DaJuan Coleman added two giving Syracuse a 30-11 lead and 10:28 remaining in the first half.  A large group Orange fans on hand were excited and a “Let’s go Orange” chant broke out across the arena..

The Demon Deacons added more points to the board, but every time they did Syracuse answered.  Red shirt senior Michael Gbinije stole the ball and dunked it with authority at the other end; all Wake Forest could do was watch. 

By the end of the first half the Orange held a commanding 47-27 lead.  Cooney had 21 points at the half.

Second Half

Syracuse opened the second half as strong as the first.  Junior forward Tyler Roberson got the Orange started for the second half with a dunk assisted by Coleman.  Roberson scored 14 points in the second half.

The last 13 minutes of the game there were plenty of fouls called on both ends of the floor.  Syracuse had 20 fouls in the second half and Wake Forest had 10 fouls. Roberson and Gbinije wound up with three personals each, Coleman, Tyler Lydon and Malachi Richardson has four apiece and backup center Chinonso Obokoh fouled out with five in 13 minutes of playing time

“It’s the first time this year we had so many guys in foul trouble,” Boeheim said.  “If you’re going to give any team a lot of free throws they’re probably the team to do it, they’re not a good free throw shooting team.”

The Demon Deacons made only 25-of-42 free throws. 

It seemed as though Cooney had cooled off in the second only scoring four points, but he contributed in other ways.

“I still got some looks in the second half,” he said.  “I was still able to make plays and have some assists.”

Preparation pays off

In last year’s meeting the Orange won 86-83 over the Demon Deacons in overtime in which Wake Forest senior guard Codi Miller-McIntyre had 24 points and sophomore forward Konstantinos Mitoglou logged a career-high 26 points.  In this contest Miller-McIntyre had six points and Mitoglou had five.

“Our defense was active," Boeheim said.  “MacIntyre and Mitoglou hurt us last year, I thought it was by far the best defense we played this year.”

Roberson was happy with the defensive effort on Mitoglou, which was a big part of the Orange strategy.

“We made sure he didn’t catch the ball down low,” Roberson said.  “But when he did catch it we made sure the forwards dropped down and took away his shot.”

High Scorers

Syracuse had four players score in double digits led by Cooney.  Roberson earned a second consecutive double –double scoring 16 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.  Gbinije had 16 and Lydon finished with 11 points.

Wake Forest freshman center Doral Moore had 10 points for the Demon Deacons. 

Up Next

Syracuse travels to Durham, to battle North Carolina foe Duke, Monday Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Notre Dame knocked off the Blue Devils at Cameron, Saturday afternoon, 95-91.

Wake Forest is at North Carolina, Wednesday night at 7:00.