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Syracuse University
at Notre Dame
#12 Orangemen Pull Out 92-88 Win At #16 Notre Dame
3/4/2003 9:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Senior #Kueth Duany# connected on a one-and-one with 8.5 seconds on the clock to seal a 92-88 win for the #12 Syracuse men's basketball team at #16 Notre Dame on Tuesday. The Orangemen (22-4, 12-3 BIG EAST) clinched a first-round bye in the BIG EAST Tournament with the victory, and moved into sole possession of first place in the conference's West Division.
Freshman #Carmelo Anthony# used a layup to break an 86-86 tie with 90 seconds left in the game. Torrian Jones made a pair of free throws with one minute remaining to knot the score at 88, but Anthony regained the lead for the Orangemen on a rebound bucket. Chris Thomas missed a three-point attempt with 15 seconds to play and Syracuse gained possession of the rebound. Two Irish fouls put SU in the bonus and sent Duany to the line for the game's final two points.
Freshman #Billy Edelin# led the Orange with a career-high 26 points off the bench on 13-for-20 shooting. Anthony finished with 21 points, including 14 in the second half, along with 10 rebounds for his third straight double-double. Freshman #Gerry McNamara# scored 15 of his 20 points in the opening period. He shot 8-for-13 from the floor, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Sophomore #Hakim Warrick# finished with 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and added 13 rebounds, three steals and a career-high seven assists. Duany became the 45th Orangeman to score 1,000 points in his career as he finished with five on the night. He now has 1,003 points in 118 career games. As a team, the Orangemen shot 56.2 percent from the floor, and 45.5 percent from three-point range. SU scored 54 of its points inside while holding Notre Dame to 34 points in the paint.
Matt Carroll scored a game-high 28 points for the Irish (21-8, 9-6 BIG EAST). Thomas finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Torin Francis notched a double-double with 19 points and 11 boards, and added five blocks. He connected on six of his seven field goal attempts for an .857 percentage.
McNamara put Syracuse up 6-0 in the first minute of the contest on a pair of three-pointers, and the Orange never trailed in the game. SU opened with an 11-2 tear, and lead by 11, 16-5, before the game was five minutes old. The Orangemen extended their edge to 15, 25-10, with 12 minutes left. Edelin had four points in an 8-0 run that gave Syracuse it's largest lead of the game, 39-18, a 21-point edge, with 6:48 remaining in the opening session. The Irish used a 20-8 streak to close the gap to nine, 47-38, 33 seconds before halftime, but Edelin's layup in the final seconds gave the Orangemen an 11-point advantage at intermission.
Notre Dame had erased SU's 21-point lead and cut it to four points three minutes into the second period. Edelin scored four points to help the Orange rebuild a 10-point advantage, 67-57, at the 10:50 mark. A Warrick dunk gave SU a 76-66 edge with 7:27 to play. The Irish made their final run with less than four minutes left in the game, as Carroll hit two three-pointers in a 9-2 Notre Dame streak that tied the game at 86 with 2:02 on the clock.
Syracuse closes out its regular season against Rutgers on Sunday, Mar. 9 at 2:00 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.
