#17/14 Orange Comes Back to Beat Canisius, 81-71

Saturday, November 25

Buffalo, NY

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Canisius

Senior Demetris Nichols moved into 10th place on the school's all-time three-point field goal list

#17/14 Orange Comes Back to Beat Canisius, 81-71

11/25/2006 9:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Syracuse, N.Y- The #17/14 Syracuse Orange (6-0) was put to the test against the Canisius Golden Griffins in its first road game of the season at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo. Syracuse trailed the entire first half, but used a strong second half to defeat Canisius, 81-71, and remain undefeated in the early season. Canisius committed 21 turnovers, which led to 23 Syracuse points. The Orange also scored 31 fastbreak points. The crowd of 14,283 was an HSBC Arena regular season record for basketball and was the second largest crowd in Canisius basketball history.

Senior forward Demetris Nichols led the Orange with 20 points. He made three three-point field goals, moving him past Dave Johnson for 10th on the Syracuse all-time list. Sophomore guard Eric Devendorf added 17 for Syracuse. Freshman forward Paul Harris had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds in his homecoming game. Harris, who scored six of SU's first 10 points off the bench, attended Niagara Falls High School and led them to a state title in 2005. Senior forward Terrence Roberts had 12 points, eight rebounds and six blocks, tying his career-high mark that he set against Colgate last season. Junior guard Josh Wright had 11 points, eight assists, five steals, and only one turnover.

Canisius came out firing from long range, hitting five of its first seven three-point attempts. The Golden Griffins jumped out to a 7-0 lead and maintained that edge throughout the entire first half. The biggest Canisius lead was 15 points eight minutes into the game, 23-8.

The Orange closed the first half on a 30-16 run and trailed by just a point after 20 minutes, 39-38. Harris led a fastbreak as the first half wound down, finding freshman forward Mike Jones underneath for a layup with 12 seconds left. Canisius finished the half 6-of-10 from three-point range, while Syracuse was just 2-of-11. The Golden Griffins also outrebounded the Orange, who was without senior center Darryl Watkins for the second-straight game, 25-19 in the first half.

Nichols had a four-point play to start the second half and give the Orange its first lead of the game, 42-41, but guard Chuck Harris made a layup for Canisius to take the lead right back. Head coach Jim Boeheim was called for a technical foul for arguing with the referees after a foul was assessed to Roberts and Canisius converted both free throws to increase its lead to 45-42. The Orange went more than four minutes without scoring until Roberts threw a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Wright. Roberts was fouled on the play, made the free throw, and cut the Canisius lead down to two, 47-45.

Wright hit a fastbreak layup as he was fouled to tie the game at 47, but missed the free throw. Canisius made another layup to regain the lead, but Nichols made a three off a pass from right to put the Orange back on top, 50-49.

The Golden Griffins knotted the game up again, 52-52, but their foul trouble early in the half caught up with them, as the Orange made three free throws to go back on top. After Canisius corralled an offensive rebound and putback, Wright took the inbounds pass and beat everyone down the floor for an uncontested layup. Devendorf cut through the defense for a tough layup to put Syracuse up by five points, but Harris answered again with a three-pointer and with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, the Syracuse lead was two points, 59-57.

From that point, the Orange went on an 11-2 run, forcing three turnovers, as its lead swelled to 11 points with five minutes left, 70-59. A three-pointer by Nichols put the Orange up by 13 points with three minutes left. Canisius went cold from three-point range in the second half, making just four of its 16 attempts from long range. The Golden Griffins did maintain the rebounding edge, pulling down 54 rebounds, including 30 on the offensive end.

Syracuse host Holy Cross Monday at 7:00 p.m. at the Carrier Dome.