'Cuse Outpaced By St. John's, 69-57

Saturday, December 6

Syracuse, N.Y.

5:15 p.m.

Syracuse University

(5-3)

St. John's

(6-1)

Team	1	2	F
St. John's	32	37	69
Syracuse	28	29	57

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

12/6/2014 7:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Rakeem Christmas picks up his second double-double of the season in the loss

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Visiting St. John's (6-1) scored 17 of the last 19 points to pull away from Syracuse (5-3), 69-57. The defeat snapped Syracuse's 55-game, non-conference home win streak, which was the second longest in the Division I ranks.

Graduate student Rakeem Christmas led the Orange with 15 points and 15 rebounds, his second double-double of the season. Freshman Chris McCullough added 13 points and eight rebounds.

In his first career start, junior Michael Gbinije contributed 13 points and logged five rebounds and five assists.

A 'Cuse Rally
Spurred on by college basketball's largest crowd of the year, 24,884, the Orange rallied from a 50-42 deficit. Syracuse used a 13-2 run, keyed by five points from McCullough, to regain the lead 55-52, with 5:34 left.

The Red Storm replied with its game-ending run which featured 11 points from Phil Greene, including back-to-back 3-pointers which game St. John's the lead for good.

A Lead-Swapping First Half
St. John's opened the game's scoring with a 3-pointer from Greene and jumped out to an early 8-4 lead. The Orange answered with nine straight points, including four from Christmas and a 3-pointer from Gbinije, which put Syracuse up 13-8.

The Orange maintained its lead, which reached five three more times, for most of the rest of the half. A layup from sophomore B.J. Johnson had Syracuse ahead 25-20 with 4:57. St. John's senior D'Angelo Harrison paced a Red Storm rally, tallying eight points in a 12-3 stretch that closed the half with the visitors leading, 32-28.

Harrison accumulated 11 points in the first 20 minutes while Syraucse was paced by Christmas, who had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Red Storm Holds Edge After Break
St. John's held on to its lead for the first eight minutes of the second half and extended its margin to as many as eight points. Another 3-pointer from Harrison put the Red Storm ahead 50-42 and set the stage for the Syracuse rally.

St. John's connected on 9-of-16 (.563) 3-pointers and 20-of-25 (.800) from the foul line. Syracuse managed just 3-of-22 (.136) from the 3-point line and 10-of-20 from the free-throw line.

Game Notes: St. John's broke Syracuse's nine-game winning streak in the series ... The Red Storm is the seventh most frequent foe in Syracuse's hoop history ... Saturday was the 89th meeting between the former BIG EAST Conference rivals. ... McCullough scored in double digits for the eighth straight game.

Next On The Docket
The Orange now enters a brief break from competition until it welcomes Louisianna Tech to the Carrier Dome on December 14. The Sunday matchup is slated for 4:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPNU.