Orange Escapes "The Rac" With 86-84 Victory

Monday, January 24

Piscataway, NJ

7:00 p.m. (ESPN)

Syracuse University

Rutgers

Terrence Roberts' three-point play with 7.2 seconds remaining capped the Orange's victory.

1/24/2005 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Syracuse-86, Rutgers-84

Piscataway, N.J. – Terrence Roberts' three-point play with 7.2 seconds left capped #4 Syracuse's (20-1, 7-0) comeback from an 18-point halftime deficit as the Orange escaped "The RAC" with an 86-84 victory against Rutgers (7-9, 1-5), in front of a sold out crowd of 8,071 in the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

Rutgers took a one-point lead, 82-81, with 1:43 to play in the contest after Ricky Shields knocked down a three from the right side. SU answered right back with a layup from Billy Edelin to regain the advantage, 83-82.

Rutgers again took the lead, 84-83, with 27.4 seconds remaining after Dan Waterstradt made two free throws. The Orange drove down the court where Josh Pace missed a jumper in the lane and Roberts got the rebound and made the putback from the left side of the rim. Roberts was fouled as he went up and completed the three-point play, putting the Orange ahead by two, 86-84, with 7.2 seconds left. Rutgers had one last chance with 3.8 seconds remaining as Quincy Douby attempted a three-pointer from the right corner that bounced in and out, and Syracuse won the contest.

Senior forward Hakim Warrick (www.suathletics.com/Hakim) paced the SU attack tallying 21 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Gerry McNamara (www.suathletics.com/Gerry) added 21 points, and Edelin came off the bench to contribute a season-high 14 points.

Rutgers was led by Shields, who scored 20 points and had a contest-best 11 rebounds. Ollie Bailey had 18 points before fouling out, and Quincy Douby had 11 points and four blocked shots.

Syracuse got out to an early 6-0 advantage during the opening two minutes of the contest before Rutgers answered back on a 15-2 run to take the lead, 15-8, at the 14:34 mark. With the Orange behind 20-16, McNamara, Warrick and Edelin put together a 14-8 run for the Orange to take a 30-28 advantage. The scored was tied 33-33 with 5:41 remaining and the half ended on a Rutgers 21-3 run, and Syracuse trailed at the half for the first time all season, 54-36.

Syracuse came out in the second half scoring nine-straight points, five by Warrick and four by Pace, to cut the Scarlet Knights 18-point halftime advantage to 54-45. Syracuse further capitalized on six Rutgers turnovers during the first two and a half minutes to cut the lead to five, 58-53, at the 17:24 mark.

Rutgers extended its lead to eight, 65-57, at the 16:08 mark when SU went on a 12-5 run to cut the margin to one, 70-69, on a McNamara three-pointer with 10:01 to play to the game. The Scarlet Knights scored the next four points before the Orange had an 11-0 run to take an 80-74 advantage with 5:56 remaining. It was the first time the Orange had led since the 6:08 mark in the first half.

Pace finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and a team-high seven assists. Sophomore Darryl Watkins saw his first action since December 28 against Albany, playing eight minutes for the Orange with two blocks.

The SU defense limited Rutgers to 7-of-25 (.280) shooting from the floor in the second half. The Orange countered by making 20-of-36 (.556) during the second stanza.

Syracuse is the first Division I team to reach 20 victories this season. It was the 13th-straight win for the Orange and gave Jim Boeheim 20 victories for the 27th time in his 29 seasons at Syracuse. The victory was also the 696th for Boeheim at Syracuse. He is four wins away from joining an exclusive group of 17 Division I coaches with 700 career triumphs.

The Orange plays at Pittsburgh on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.