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Syracuse University
Notre Dame
Late Rally Lifts Men's Basketball to Win Against Notre Dame in Front of Record Crowd
2/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
Coach Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse Player Quotes
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Junior guard Gerry McNamara scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, including an 11-for-11 performance from the free throw line, to help 8/8 Syracuse (21-2, 8-1) to a 60-57 come-from-behind victory against Notre Dame (13-6, 5-4) at the Carrier Dome. A crowd of 33,199 was on hand to help break the NCAA on-campus attendance record. With the win, SU improves to 21-2 on the season, 8-1 in the BIG EAST Conference.
The game attendance surpassed the previous standard, also set by Syracuse. On March 9, 2003 the Orange had 33,071 on hand for a game with Rutgers. The February 5 crowd was the 59th time in school history Syracuse had drawn more than 30,000 to the Dome. SU has now won 39 of those 59 contests.
Notre Dame took the lead, 5-3, on a three-pointer from Colin Falls at the 16:20 mark, and did not trail until the final two minutes of the contest. McNamara tied the game, 50-50, on two free throws with 3:24 left. The Irish regained the lead on two from the charity stripe by Torin Francis, only to have Hakim Warrick convert two foul shots with 2:35 left to knot things at 52-52. On SU's next possession, McNamara was fouled shooting a three-pointer. He converted all three free throws to give SU the lead with 1:40 left.
Louie McCroskey increased the edge to 56-52 with a made free throw but Notre Dame answered on Torin Francis' jumper. McNamara responded with two free throws, only to be answered by a Dennis Latimore dunk that made it 58-56 Syracuse with 18 ticks remaining. McNamara again converted twice from the line. Francis then missed two free throws and a free throw by teammate Chris Quinn with five seconds on the clock closed out the scoring.
The Irish limited SU to a season-low 20 points in the first half and held a 26-20 advantage heading into the intermission. When the Orange closed the gap to five, 39-34, on a jumper from Josh Pace, the Irish came back with a 11-5 run, keyed by two threes from Chris Quinn, to up the margin to 50-39 with 6:05 left.
SU Coach Jim Boeheim, who picked up the 697th victory of his tenure as head coach, slapped on a fullcourt press and the Orange responded. Two Warrick dunks and two free throws from the national player of the year candidate started the rally.
The Irish, who came into this game as the top-ranked team in the league in free-throw shooting percentage (.744), shot just 6-for-17 from the line against Syracuse. The Orange recorded 21 of its points from the free throw line (on 32 attempts).
Warrick finished with 20 points and six rebounds and Josh Pace added 10 points and six boards.
Francis ended up with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Notre Dame. Quinn had 12 points, while Dennis Latimore chipped in with 10 and six rebounds.
SU will not have much time to rest as No. 23/20 Connecticut visits the Carrier Dome on Monday, Feb. 7, for a 7:00 p.m. ESPN Big Monday contest.Â
