GMAC's Back! Orange Defeats Towson, 86-52, in Wilkes-Barre

Tuesday, December 27

Wilkes-Barre, PA

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Towson

Gerry McNamara helped SU defeat Towson in a homecoming game for the SU senior.

GMAC's Back! Orange Defeats Towson, 86-52, in Wilkes-Barre

12/27/2005 10:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WILKES BARRE, Pa. – Syracuse senior guard Gerry McNamara scored 20 points, had seven assists and five steals in his homecoming game against Towson (3-6) at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes, Barre, Pa. The Orange defeated the Tigers, 86-52, in front of 8,209 fans who came out to support the Scranton native who helped Bishop Hannon High School to the 2002 PIAA Class AA Championship and finished seventh in career scoring (2,917 points) in Pennsylvania state history.

Syracuse has now won seven-straight games to improve its record to 10-2. Junior forward Demetris Nichols paced the Orange with 25 points (9-of-11 from the field), five rebounds and four steals. Nichols has now reached double figures in all 12 games this season. He was four-of-six from three-point land against the Tigers.

Meanwhile, McNamara moved into a tie for fourth place on the school's career steals list with Dwayne "Pearl" Washington (220 steals).

SU got out to a quick 9-0 lead, but then found itself tied at 11-11 by the 13:03 mark. Towson's Lawrence Hamm finished off a pass from Gary Neal to pull the Tigers to within seven points (24-17) with 6:50 remaining in the first half, but the Orange pulled away with an 18-2 run in the final 6:34 to break the game open to a 42-20 halftime advantage.

Syracuse went ahead by as many as 27 points (47-20) after scoring the first five points of the second stanza. The lead bulged to 31 points (68-37) after McNamara hit one of his three 3-pointers with 10:10 remaining in the contest.

SU's largest lead of the night was 37 points (78-41) after a successful three-point attempt by freshman guard Andy Rautins with 4:46 remaining. Rautins has made a three in every game he has played in this season.

Neal was the high scorer for Towson with 19 points. He also had a team-high seven rebounds and four steals.

The Orange plays its next game on Friday, Dec. 30, at home against Kent State at 7 p.m.