Orange Extends Winning Streak to Four with 89-83 Win Versus Florida

Monday, November 24

Sprint Center

7:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

Florida

Andy Rautins scored all 15 of his points against Florida in the first half.

Orange Extends Winning Streak to Four with 89-83 Win Versus Florida

11/24/2008 10:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Orange (4-0) passed its first road test of the season by defeating #17/18 Florida, 89-83, in the semifinals of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic on Monday, Nov. 24 at the Sprint Center. Sophomore Jonny Flynn (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) and junior Paul Harris (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) led five SU players in double figures with 18 points each. Flynn netted 16 of his 18 in the second half to help spur the Orange to victory.

Syracuse will face the winner of Kansas-Washington in the tournament championship game at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN2.

Monday's victory was the 775th for SU head coach Jim Boeheim, and the contest represented his 1,053rd career game on the sideline. Boeheim is tied with former Cheyney and Temple head coach John Chaney for 18th on the career list of most games coached at the Division I level.

Flynn was 5-for7 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line against the Gators. He has scored in double figures in all four games this season.

In addition to his 18 points, Harris pulled down 11 rebounds to record his second double-double of the campaign. Junior center Arinze Onuaku (Lanham, Md.) also notched a double-double Monday with 13 points and a game-best 12 boards.

With the game tied at 5-5 early, the Orange went on a 9-2 run capped by an Andy Rautins (Jamesville, N.Y.) three to a claim a 14-7 margin with 13:44 to go in the opening half. Back-to-back Florida buckets stopped the run,and with the Gators down six, 19-13, and 10:25 to play, they scored 11 of the game's next 13 points to take a 24-21 lead and force an Orange timeout at the 8:31 mark of first half.

The lead was short-lived as Syracuse responded with another Rautins triple to tie the game at 24-24.The basket started a 7-2 Orange run that resulted in a 31-26 SU lead at the 4:49 mark of the first stanza. The scoring spurt was punctuated by Rautins' third trey of the first half. A Harris bucket and two more Rautins threes helped Syracuse to a 41-38 advantage at the intermission.

Bench scoring was the key to SU's success in the first half. Twenty-one of its 41 points in the period came from its reserves. Rautins feasted on Florida' s defense, scoring all 15 of his points in the first half. He hit five 3-pointers off the bench, one short of his career high. Freshman Kris Joseph (Montreal, Quebec) canned all three of his field-goal attempts in the first 20 minutes to total six points, and he finished the game with 10 points to round out SU's double-figure scorers.

The Orange took control of the contest with 15 points in the first 3:36 of the second half, securing its largest lead of the game, 56-44, but the Gators (3-1) sliced the margin to 56-50 at the 15:19 mark with six quick points.

Syracuse still led by five, 62-57, with 11 minutes remaining in regulation when Flynn and Onuaku took over. The duo combined for 10 of the team's next 12 points to extend the lead to 74-64 with 7:31 left.

Florida eventually whittled the lead down to four, 83-79, on a 3-pointer by Erving Walker with 1:28 to play, but Syracuse hit six free throws in the final 50 seconds to preserve the win.

Alex Tyus finished with a game-best 24 points to lead Florida. Nick Calathes chipped 19 points and a game-high seven assists for the Gators.

The Orange again won the rebounding battle, grabbing 40 boards to 34 for the Gators. Syracuse has owned the advantage on the glass in every game this season. The Orange also shot at least 50 percent from the field for the fourth straight contest, making 51.7 percent of its field goals (31-60) Monday night.