Second Half Push Not Enough As Hoyas Snap SU Winning Streak

Wednesday, January 14

Verizon Center

7:30 p.m.

Syracuse University

Georgetown

Sophomore Rick Jackson recorded a career-high 17 points against the Hoyas.

Second Half Push Not Enough As Hoyas Snap SU Winning Streak

1/14/2009 9:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – #8/8 Syracuse (16-2, 4-1) had its seven-game winning streak snapped in a midweek matchup with #13/12 Georgetown as the Hoyas recorded an 88-74 victory against the Orange. Syracuse outscored the Hoyas 42-38 in the second half, but it wasn't enough to pull off the win in front of a crowd of 19,227 at the Verizon Center.

Junior guard Eric Devendorf led the Orange with 20 points and sophomore Rick Jackson recorded a career-high 17 points. Junior forward Paul Harris recorded the 25^th double-double of his career after recording 15 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore Jonny Flynn posted 14 points and a game-high nine assists and junior Arinze Onuaku pulled down 11 boards for the night.

Syracuse faced the largest deficit it has seen this season, falling behind by 21 points late in the first half. Earlier this season, the Orange was able to dig itself out of a 16-point hole against Cornell to remain undefeated, 8-0.

The Hoyas took a 10-2 lead early in the first half. Jackson scored first for the Orange and added three of SU's next five points to make it a three-point game, 10-7, with 14:20 to play. Georgetown was back up by seven, 16-9, three minutes later until a three-pointer from Devendorf and a fastbreak layup from Flynn made it a one-possession game, 16-14, by midpoint of the first half.

Georgetown then embarked on an 18-3 scoring run which lasted over five minutes to give them a 34-17 advantage. The run began on back-to-back trifectas from Hoya Nikita Mescheriakov. The two teams went basket-for-basket with one another for the next few minutes, but the Hoyas had built their lead to 20, 46-26, with a little over two minutes until halftime.

The Orange managed six more points courtesy of two each from Onuaku, Devendorf and Harris prior to the break, but would head to the locker room facing the largest halftime deficit it had seen this year. The Hoyas led 50-32 at halftime.

GU held the Orange to only 38.7 percent (12-of-31) from the field in the first half, while the Hoyas were 18-of-30 (60.0 percent). The Hoyas also outrebounded the Orange, 20-13.

Syracuse opened the second half with a 13-3 run capped off by a dunk from Jackson. Jackson and Harris combined for 10 of SU's 13 points during the first four and half minutes of the second period.

GU answered with its own run, scoring 14 points to SU's four, bringing the score to 67-49 in favor of the Hoyas.

Following a Syracuse timeout, the Orange added another 17 points, holding the Hoyas to 10, to cut the GU lead to only 11 by the 5:27 mark. Devendorf tallied nine of the Orange's points during the run.

Back-to-back fouls by freshman Kris Joseph sent Georgetown's DaJuan Summers to the free throw line where he went 3-for-4 to put the Hoyas up by 14 less than a minute later. Both teams scored eight points apiece as the clock ran down to end the game.

SU closed the game with a .475 (29-of-61) shooting percentage. The Orange improved its rebounding in the second half and closed the game with 31 to GU's 23. Syracuse outscored the Hoyas in the paint (42-34), in fast break situations (11-4) and had 16 second-chance points to Georgetown's eight.

Leading scorers for the Hoyas included Summers with 21, Austin Freeman with 19 and Jason Clark with 12. Greg Monroe also contributed 10 points for Georgetown and recorded a team-high six assists.

Syracuse is back in action on Saturday, January 17 when it hosts #12/13 Notre Dame. Action with the Fighting Irish begins 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.