Flynn and Rautins Lead Orange to 73-70 Victory Against the Cavaliers

Friday, November 28

Carrier Dome

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

Virginia

Flynn and Rautins Lead Orange to 73-70 Victory Against the Cavaliers

11/28/2008 9:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Syracuse, back home for the first of six-consecutive home games, posted a 73-70 victory against Virginia in front of a crowd of 22,096 in the Carrier Dome. Four members of the Orange tallied double-digit points in the come-from-behind win.

Leading the Orange in scoring were sophomore guard Jonny Flynn and junior guard Andy Rautins who each contributed 15 points. Also in double-digits was junior guard Eric Devendorf with 14 and junior forward Paul Harris with 13. Junior forward Arinze Onuaku led the Orange in rebounds with 10.

Back-to-back dunks by sophomore forward Rick Jackson with a little over 10 minutes left in the game, sparked an Orange offensive push that brought the Orange back within three points, 52-49, of the Cavaliers. Syracuse had fallen behind by as many as 12 points early in the second half.

Soon after, two-straight three-pointers from Rautins would give Syracuse its first lead of the game since Devendorf's opening basket, 58-56. Rautins continued supplying the big plays, shooting a steal to Flynn for a layup only to follow it soon after with a feed to Jackson for a dunk. With 6:12 left in the game, the score was 62-56.

The Cavaliers weren't giving up easy as they connected on their next two attempts, coming within two of SU, 62-60. It wouldn't be enough to derail the Orange in the end as its ability to draw fouls would keep the game out of Virginia's reach.

Syracuse outscored Virginia, 44-30, in the second half and totaled 25 points to UVA's 15 off the bench. The Orange improved its shooting from 36 percent (9-25) in the first half, to a solid 60 percent (12-20) in the second half for a shooting percentage of 46.7 (21-45) for the game.

Syracuse started the first half off slow falling behind by eight, 29-21, with 5:21 left to play. A jumper from Joseph and two free throws from Devendorf brought the Orange within four, 29-25. However, the Cavaliers would continue to hold a lead they had held for almost the entirety of the first half.

With 2:23 left in the first half with Virginia leading 31-25, UVA's Sammy Zeglinski picked up a technical foul giving Devendorf a chance to again bring SU within four of the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers, however, would go on to score nine-straight points putting them up 40-27 with seconds to go before halftime. Devendorf fought through traffic nailing a layup as time ran out to send the teams to the locker room with Virginia leading, 40-29.

Devendorf led the Orange in scoring in the first half with 10 points, including going two-for-two in field goals and making six-of-seven free throws. Virginia shot 45.7 percent (16-35) to Syracuse's 36 percent (9-25), and outrebounded the Orange 22-18.

The Cavaliers were led by freshman guard Sylven Landesberg's 16 points. Freshman center Assane Cene and Zeglinski had 14 points apiece. Sophomore forward Mike Scott rounded out the Virginia leaders with a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds which were evenly split between offense and defense.

Syracuse is back in action Monday, December 1 for a 7 p.m. game against Colgate. Tickets can be purchased online at SUathletics.com, by phone at 1-800-DomeTix or in person at the Carrier Dome box office during regular business hours.