Orange "D" Smothers Rutgers

Wednesday, January 10

New Brunswick, NJ

9:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Rutgers

Eric Devendorf has scored at least 17 points in each of SU's three BIG EAST contests.

1/10/2007 11:26:32 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Orange (13-4, 2-1) proved its defensive mettle in defeating Rutgers (8-8, 1-2) by the score of 68-58 on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Syracuse, which ranks in the top 15 nationally in field-goal percentage defense, held Rutgers to 18-of-61 from the floor (29.5 percent). It was the lowest shooting percentage for any SU opponent so far this season.

The Scarlet Knights were also just 5-for-21 from behind the 3-point arc (20.8 percent). By comparison, SU hit 46.9 percent of its shots from the field (23-49). Rutgers’ 58 points matches the third-fewest points allowed by the Orange this season. It was the second straight game SU surrendered fewer than 60 points. The Orange also held Marquette to 58 points on Jan. 7.

SU led for most of the game and improved its record to 324-176 in 500 BIG EAST games (regular-season and conference tournament), all of which have been coached by Jim Boeheim.

Sophomore guard Eric Devendorf led the Orange offense once again. He tallied 19 points. Devendorf drilled both of his 3-point attempts and was 7-for-7 at the free-throw line. He has paced the Orange in scoring in all three of its BIG EAST games and has scored at least 17 points in each outing.

Senior Demetris Nichols finished with 12 points at Rutgers. He is two shy of reaching 1,000 for his career. He also grabbed seven rebounds in the game.

Senior Darryl Watkins just missed his second straight double-double Wednesday. He scored nine points and grabbed 10 boards. It was his third double-figure rebounding effort of the year. He also rejected two shots to move past Conrad McRae into eighth on SU’s career blocks chart. Watkins has 204 blocks, one behind Craig Forth who ranks seventh.

Sophomore guard Andy Rautins scored nine of SU’s first 11 points, including a 3-pointer with 14:10 to play in the opening half to give the Orange an 11-8 lead. He connected on four of his first six attempts from the floor, but did not score for the rest of the game.

After a hoop by Rutgers’ Adrian Hill, Nichols scored his first basket, but a triple by Courtney Nelson tied the score at 13-13 with 11:15 left in the period. From there, the Orange used an 8-2 scoring spurt to build a six-point bulge, 21-15. Nelson tallied the next six Scarlet Knight points sandwiched around a Devendorf three to trim SU’s margin to 24-21 at 5:57. The two teams combined for just eight points in the remainder of the half with the Orange holding a 28-25 advantage at the intermission.

SU limited Rutgers to 28.1 percent shooting in first stanza (9-32). The Orange couldn’t capitalize though, in part because of 10 first-half turnovers, which led to 12 points for the Scarlet Knights.

The Orange continued to frustrate Rutgers’ shooters in the second half and registered 11 of the first 16 points in the period, including four each by Nichols and Watkins to build a 39-30 lead with 16:04 left in the game. Two free throws by Anthony Farmer got the Scarlet Knights within six, 44-38, but a 17-5 run, capped by an alley oop jam by senior Terrence Roberts, resulted in the Orange’s largest lead of the contest, 60-43, at 4:54. The Scarlet Knights scored six straight points and used a 15-4 run to get within six, 64-58, with 54 seconds remaining in the contest, but they did not score again. Nichols and Devendorf each hit a pair of free throws to produce the final margin.

Syracuse did the job again from the charity stripe, connecting on 18 of its 21 free throws (85.7 percent). Rutgers also did a decent job at the line, making 17-of-25 (68 percent), but its woeful shooting percentage was too much to overcome.

Nelson paced Rutgers with 14 points off the bench. All three of his field goals were from 3-point land. JR Inman contributed eight points and 10 rebounds and Adrian Hill notched a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

It was the sixth consecutive win for SU against the Scarlet Knights.

The Orange returns to the Carrier Dome on Saturday, Jan. 13 for a 1:00 p.m. showdown with Villanova. The game will be televised live on CBS.