Orange Escapes Bearcats' Bite With 77-76 Win

Wednesday, January 17

Carrier Dome

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Cincinnati

Terrence Roberts recorded his second consecutive double-double.

1/17/2007 9:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Coach Boeheim Quotes

SU Player Quotes

Syracuse, N.Y.- Eric Devendorf nailed two free throws with 12 ticks left on the clock and Syracuse (15-4, 4-1) survived a scare at the Carrier Dome, beating Cincinnati (9-8, 0-3), 77-76. Syracuse led by as many as 19 points in the first half, but was outscored 42-29 in the second half. Cincinnati did not lead until just more than a minute left in the game, but Demetris Nichols and Devendorf each hit two foul shots apiece to give the Orange its fourth consecutive BIG EAST victory.

The triumph was the 741st for coach Jim Boeheim, placing him in a tie with former Temple boss John Chaney for the 14th most wins in the Division I coaching ranks. It was also the 998th game as head coach at Syracuse for Boeheim.

"We shot the ball so well early we thought it was going to be an easy game," Boeheim said. "We never did stop them the whole game. As soon as we started to miss a couple of shots, that's when the game was going to be close. I thought we were very fortunate at the end. We made four pressure free throws which are not always easy to do and we made a good defensive stop at the end."

Nichols led the Orange in scoring for the 12th time this season with 22 points. Terrence Roberts recorded his second straight double-double with a season-high 17 points, 16 coming in the first half, and 10 rebounds. He made his first seven shots from the field, six of which were dunks. Devendorf finished with 17 points and tied his career-high with eight assists. Darryl Watkins had 10 rebounds and eight blocks, tying the career-high he set last season against Cornell and coming within one of the Syracuse single-game record owned by Etan Thomas. Watkins now has 215 career blocks, moving him past John Wallace into sixth place on the Syracuse all-time list.

Cincinnati came into the game second to last in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage and it showed why in the first half. The Bearcats started the game 5-of-30 from the field and connected on just one of their first 10 three-point attempts. The Bearcats turned their shooting woes around, going 6-of-8 from beyond the arc to close out the first period and shooting 45 percent from the field in the second half.

The Orange's shooting performance was the opposite as it shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and was only 8-for-21 in the second half.

Syracuse jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes. Syracuse was 5-for-6 from the field to begin the game, while Cincinnati missed its first six shots; four of which came from beyond the arc. Roberts had four points early on and Nichols connected on his first three-point attempt, extending his streak to 24 consecutive games with a triple. The duo continued to lead the Orange offensively as Nichols nailed another three-pointer and Roberts threw down back-to-back dunks. He was fouled on the second slam and converted the free throw to give the Orange a 10 point advantage, 17-7, at 14:10.

Roberts had two more dunks during a 13-4 Orange run over the next four minutes. Matt Gorman, who had missed the past four games with an ankle injury, got into the action when he entered the game with a three-pointer from the top of the key. With over eight minutes left in the first half, Syracuse led big, 30-11.

The Bearcats went on a 17-7 run to slash the deficit down to single-digits in the final minute, 43-34. Nichols scored five points to close out the half, including a fastbreak layup at the buzzer off an outlet pass from Devendorf, and the Orange led 48-34 at halftime.

Syracuse maintained a 14 point edge as each team scored nine points in the first five minutes of the second half. Cincinnati used an 8-3 run to pull back within nine, 60-51, with 12 minutes to go in the period. Deonta Vaughn scored 11 straight points for the Bearcats to cut the deficit to four points. Vaughn then pulled down an offensive rebound and found Jamual Warren at the top of the key for a three-pointer and with 4:48 left in the game, Cincinnati was down by just a point, 68-67.

After a Syracuse timeout, Devendorf hit a three-pointer, but Marcus Sikes answered with a three of his own on Cincinnati's next trip down the court. Devendorf connected on a pair of free throws to give the Orange a three point cushion. Cincinnati continued to fight, using three offensive rebounds and two Orange turnovers to get a layup. Marcus Sikes hit a three-pointer at 1:13 to give the Bearcats their first lead of the game, 75-73.

Marvin Gentry made a free throw but missed his second that would have given the Bearcats a four point lead. Nichols then hit his two foul shots to pull the Orange within one. Jamual Warren missed the front end of a one-and-one, setting the scene for Devendorf's game-winning free throws. Vaughn forced up a three at the buzzer, but it fell just short of the rim.

Sikes connected on eight three-pointers for a game-high 24 points. The Bearcats had four other players in double figures, led by Vaughn with 13 points. The freshman guard also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

Syracuse takes on St. John's on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.