Second Half Explosion Leads SU Past Rutgers, 82-66

Saturday, January 10

Louis Brown Center

7:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

Rutgers

Junior Arinze Onuaku was 8-of-9 from the field and finished with 19 points as Syracuse won its seventh straight.

Second Half Explosion Leads SU Past Rutgers, 82-66

1/10/2009 9:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – #11/9 Syracuse (16-1, 4-0) remained undefeated in conference play and earned its seventh-straight win with an 82-66 victory at Rutgers Saturday night. Junior Paul Harris led the Orange with a season-high 26 points.

Junior Arinze Onuaku was 8-of-9 from the field and finished with 19 points, while junior Eric Devendorf and sophomore Jonny Flynn each added 15 points. Flynn led the team in assists with nine and rebounds with seven and did not commit a turnover.

The triumph was win number 787 for Coach Jim Boeheim, breaking a tie with Lefty Driesell and moving Boeheim into eighth place on the all-time Division I victory ledger.

Despite a slow start for both teams with Rutgers managing the lead for the majority of the first half, the second half was all Orange. Syracuse began the second half with leading 39-38, but slowly began to break away with baskets from Onuaku and Flynn to make it a two possession game, 45-41.

For the next few minutes, the two teams went basket-for-basket with one another. Syracuse extended its lead to nine points, 59-50, by 10:58. Rutgers came within six, but the Orange went on a 10-4 run to stay out of the Scarlet Knights reach, 69-57, with a little over seven minutes to play.

During the final five minutes of play, the Orange held Rutgers to only seven points, while the Orange had nine courtesy of six points from Harris.

Syracuse went 16-for-23 (.696) from the field in the second half and held the Scarlet Knights to only 8-of-28 (28.6 percent).

Onuaku scored the first basket of the game, but Rutgers responded by taking an early 11-6 lead. The Orange kept it close, but the Scarlet Knights maintained control of the lead for the first eight minutes of play. Freshman Kris Joseph gave SU its first lead, 18-17, when he sank a jumper off a pass from Devendorf.

The Scarlet Knights took the lead right back with a 10-2 run to give them a 27-20 advantage, but the Orange answered with its own 8-2 run to come within a point of tying the game, 29-28. With 4:03 to play, Harris nails a jumper to tie the score, 32-32. After another Rutgers bucket, Harris slammed one home to tie the game again, 34-34.

A three-pointer from Flynn and a basket from Devendorf would give the Orange a 39-37 edge with less than 30 seconds until halftime. A foul by Flynn gave Rutgers' Anthony Farmer a chance to tie the game, but he went 1-for-2 on free throws to allow the Orange to maintain the lead heading into the second period.

The Orange was 33-of-54 (61.1 percent) for the game, while Rutgers made 39.7 percent (24-of-58) of its shots. However, the Scarlet Knights outrebounded SU 34-28.

Leading Rutgers was Farmer with 17 points, Mike Rosario with 15 and Gregory Echenique with 10. Echenique was the leading rebounder, pulling down eight boards.

Syracuse is back in action on Wednesday, January 14 at Georgetown for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Hoyas. The Orange returns to the Carrier Dome on Saturday, January 17 when it takes on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Noon. Tickets can be purchased online at SUathletics.com, by phone at 1-800-DomeTIX or in person at the Dome during regular business hours.