Syracuse Pulls Out Road Win Over Boston College, 75-61

Story and photos by Ellen Burr

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -  “Let’s Go Orange,” overpowered “We Are BC” in Conte Forum Sunday afternoon as a sea of Orange fans watched Syracuse (18-8, 8-5) pull away from Boston College (7-18, 0-12) late in the second half and win 75-61.

“It felt like a home game at times,” Syracuse's Michael Gbinje said, smiling, after the game.

Despite leading for the majority of the game, Syracuse could not shake off the Eagles. With 15:44 to go in the matchup, Boston College’s seven-foot center Dennis Clifford muscled the ball in down low to give BC a one-point lead. Clifford also managed to draw the foul from Tyler Lydon on the play, and with the made free throw, Boston College was up by two.

But SU responded, in the person of Lydon, to pull away from BC and extend its winning streak to five. Lydon drained two threes in a row midway through the second half to give SU a 15-point lead. The freshman finished with a career-high 20 points to the night, his highest scoring game since the Orange’s November matchup against Charlotte, where he scored 18.

“My teammates found me open and I was able to make some shots,” Lydon said. “They’re the ones that got me the ball so it was all them.”

“He can shoot that shot,” Boeheim said regarding Lydon’s three-pointers. “That’s his shot. He shoots that every day, makes it in practice every day. It’s not an accident.”

First Half - Milon’s Debutante Ball

A buzzer-beating jumper by Trevor Cooney sent SU into the break with a meager 35-32 lead over BC. Boston College freshman guard Matt Milon, coming off the bench, tallied a career-high 25 points in the game. Milon scored 20 of those 25 in the first half alone, and was 4-for-4 from the three point line. In contrast, Syracuse only shot 3-for-13 from the perimeter.

“Milon’s a deadly shooter,” Boeheim said following the game. “They did a good job finding him. We didn’t in the first half.”

Before Sunday's game against SU, Milon was averaging only 4.5 points per game. The freshman’s previous career-high of 16 points came back in November when BC played Harvard.

Orange Freshman Duo Lead Syracuse in Second Half

BC spent a short moment with the lead five minutes into the second half. After that, SU pulled away from the Eagles, outscoring Boston College 36-20 in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Defensively, Syracuse learned its lesson in the first half, and adjusted to shut down Milon and hold him to only five points in the second.

On the offensive side, Tyler Lydon was not the only Syracuse freshman with a strong second half performance. Malachi Richardson tacked on an additional 15 points for the Orange.

Before Lydon knocked down his two three-pointers, Richardson drilled in two threes of his own on Syracuse’s second half run. Richardson also contributed a pretty, no-look dish to Lydon on that run.

Gbinije capped off the afternoon with a three-pointer from the top of the arc with 19 seconds to go and making the final score 75-61. Gbinije finished the afternoon with 17 points.

With the help of Lydon and Richardson, Syracuse immensely improved its three-point shooting in the second half, knocking down 8 out of 10 from behind the arc, more than half of the Orange’s 40 points in the second.

Notes

-Boston College played without two of its starters – freshman guard Jerome Robinson and freshman forward A.J. Turner were both sitting out with injuries.

-The Eagles had 13 turnovers in the game. The Orange scored a total of 23 points off those turnovers.

-SU outrebounded BC 31-25.

-Syracuse was 16-for-18 from the free throw line.

-Dennis Clifford was the second-leading scorer for Boston College behind Milon. Clifford finished with 16 points.
-The Syracuse win completed a home-and-home sweep for the Orange over the Eagles. Syracuse won at the Dome on Jan. 13, 62-40.

Up Next

Syracuse heads to Louisville to face the Cardinals this Wednesday, Feb. 17. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.

Boston College travels down to Clemson to take on the Tigers this Wednesday as well. That game is also scheduled for 7 p.m.

Slide show

Here are photos from the game. Click on any picture to start slide show.