Greene Leads Orange In 80-63 Victory Against Fordham

Friday, November 16

Carrier Dome

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Fordham

Donte Greene took this Jonny Flynn alley-oop and slammed it home in the first half.

Greene Leads Orange In 80-63 Victory Against Fordham

11/16/2007 8:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange improved to 3-0 with the help of freshman forward Donte Greene, who paced SU with a game-best and career-high 25 points and nine rebounds, in the Orange's 80-63 victory against Fordham (2-2). Syracuse claimed its third straight home outing in front of 21,180 at the Carrier Dome.

Fordham jumped out to an early 9-4 margin courtesy of two threes by Brenton Butler sandwiched around another trey from Marcus Stout. Greene kept the Orange in the contest with his club's first 11 points.

The Orange grabbed its first lead and an advantage it would not relinquish at 12:10 of the first when Greene's three-pointer provided a 19-18 edge. Greene brought the Orange fanatics to their feet when he slammed home an alley-oop from freshman guard Jonny Flynn with 1:05 remaining in the first half. The play highlighted an 11-3 Syracuse run that gave the Orange a 43-29 margin heading into the half. Greene had accumulated 16 points by the intermission.

After exchanging several baskets to open up the second half, SU went on a 13-4 run that lasted 3:48 seconds. Junior guard Eric Devendorf, who is now within seven points of 1,000 in his career after tallying 17, led the Orange during the streak by contributing five points.

Junior center Arinze Onuaku, who finished with 12 points, put an exclamation point on the victory with 2:25 remaining when he rocked the backboard by slamming in a pass from freshman guard Scoop Jardine. Onuaku was a force in the paint, grabbing six rebounds and tallying 12 points.

Flynn tallied six points and dished out a game-high eight assists against zero turnovers, while classmate Rick Jackson racked up a career-high nine points by shooting 4-for-5 from the field.

Sophomore forward Paul Harris finished with six points, six rebounds and three assists, including a dramatic wind-mill dunk with 22 seconds left

As a team the Orange shot 57.7 percent (16-for-29) from the floor and 40 percent (4-for-10) from behind the arc. SU scored 21 points on 15 turnovers and dominated the paint by out-rebounding the Rams 34-23 and out-scoring the visitors in the lane by 24 points.

Senior forward Bryant Dunston, who tallied 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, led Fordham. Sophomore guard Brenton Butler contributed 16 points and five assists, while senior guard Marcus Stout tallied 12 points and dished out a team-high seven assists.

The Orange returns to action when it takes on Ohio State on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at the NIT Season Tipoff semifinals held in New York City.