Nichols' 23 Points Keys SU Exhibition Victory

Thursday, November 3

Carrier Dome

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Le Moyne (exhibition)

Demetris Nichols scored 23 points versus Le Moyne Thursday night.

11/3/2005 8:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SU Player Quotes

Coach Boeheim Quotes

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The SU men's basketball team concluded its preseason schedule with a 94-54 exhibition victory versus cross-town opponent Le Moyne College on Thursday, Nov. 3 in front of 8,531 fans at the Carrier Dome. Junior Demetris Nichols (Boston, Mass.) led four SU players in double figures with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, including four three pointers.

Rookie Eric Devendorf (Bay City, Mich.), junior Louie McCroskey (Bronx, N.Y.) and freshman Arinze Onuaku (Lanham, Md.) also finished in double figures for the Orange with 16, 13 and 11 points, respectively. McCroskey added a game-high 10 rebounds to notch the double-double. Devendorf was 6-of-12 from the floor with two treys and Onuaku missed just once on the night, going 5-for-6 from the field. Onuaku also registered eight rebounds in the contest.

The two teams started the game a combined 0-for-16 from the floor until Devendorf knocked down a jumper with 15:44 left in the first half to put the Orange in front 3-0. A hoop by Nichols and another by Devendorf followed, and Nichols buried a three to give SU a 10-0 margin with 13:14 to go in the half. Le Moyne missed its first 11 shots from the field until a triple by Corey Smith got the Dolphins on the scoreboard at the 10:35 mark.

A trey by senior Gerry McNamara (Scranton, Pa.) increased SU's advantage to eight, 17-9, but two free throws by Phil Schoff and a jumper by Jason Holmes sliced the Orange lead to four, 17-13, at the 8:03 mark. Le Moyne pulled within three on two occasions in the final 6 minutes and 40 seconds of the period, 21-18, and 23-20, but SU exploded with a 17-3 run in final 4:42 of the half to take control of the game at the intermission, 40-23. Nichols keyed the scoring spurt with seven points.

The Orange defense held the Dolphins to six field goals in the first half and Le Moyne shot just 24 percent (6-for-25) in the opening stanza. SU also forced 12 first-half turnovers.

Nichols continued his stellar play in the second half, throwing down an emphatic dunk and hitting the ensuing free throw to complete a three-point play with 18:43 to go. After another three-point play by junior Terrence Roberts (Jersey City, N.J.), the Orange owned a 48-29 margin with 17:39 to play in the contest. The Orange extended its lead to 19, 50-31, on a pair of free throws by junior Darryl Watkins (Patterson, N.J.) with 16:28 remaining. SU cruised from there and continued to build its margin, leading by as many as 43, 90-47, on a three by Nichols with 4:03 to go in regulation.

McNamara finished with a game-high nine assists to go with six points.

Jason Holmes paced Le Moyne with 16 points. He also grabbed a team-best nine boards and added three steals. Damani Corbin chipped in nine points for the Dolphins and Corey Smith had eight.

SU shot 49.3 percent from the floor (36-73) and was 14-of-21 from the charity stripe (.667). The Orange defense held the Dolphins to 32.7 percent shooting from the field (17-of-52) and forced 20 Le Moyne turnovers. SU won the battle of the boards, 46-37.

The Orange will tip off the regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 8 against Bethune-Cookman in the first round of the College Hoops Classic to benefit Coaches vs. Cancer at 8:00 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. The preliminary contest features Cornell against St. Francis (Pa.) at 6:00 p.m.