Gbinije Nets Career-Best Night in Cuse Loss

Saturday, February 14

Syracuse, N.Y.

6:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

(16-9) (7-5)

Duke

(22-3) (9-3)

Team	1	2	F
Duke	36	44	80
Syracuse	39	33	72

2/14/2015 8:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Michael Gbinije tallied a career-high 27 points against Duke.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse and Duke added another exciting chapter in their developing rivalry when a sellout crowd of 35,446 saw the No. 4/5 Blue Devils defeat the Orange, 80-72 in the Carrier Dome. Orange junior Michael Gbinije had a career night against his former team with a game-high 27 points.

Gbinije was 10-for-14 from the field, including a career-high five three-pointers, to lead a group of four Orange who reached double figures in scoring. Sophomore Tyler Roberson tallied a career-high 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds for his fifth career double-double. In addition, senior Rakeem Christmas and redshirt junior Trevor Cooney finished with 11 points apiece.

Syracuse's first-half offense was keyed by its outside shooting. The Orange (16-9, 7-5) led by as many as six early but found itself tied, 18-18, with 9:39 on the clock. Gbinije sparked Syracuse, scoring nine of his 19 first-half points on three straight three-point field goal attempts to give Syracuse a 27-18 lead with 6:23 remaining. Duke (22-3, 9-3) was able to cut the lead to six, but five straight points by the Orange gave SU its largest lead of the game (11) at 34-23 with 3:32 on the clock. But the Blue Devils came back and ended the half on a 13-5 scoring run to cut Syracuse's lead to 39-36 at intermission. Syracuse shot 48.4 percent (15-of-31) from the field in the first half, including 7-for-11 (63.6 percent) from three-point range.

Center Jahlil Okafor, a national player of the year candidate, sparked Duke's second-half comeback. He recorded the first four points after the break as Duke used a 7-0 scoring run to quickly erase the three-point deficit. The Blue Devils twice built their lead to 11 points but the Orange wouldn't go away.

Syracuse fought back and a pair of free throws by Roberson cut the deficit to four at 66-62 with 3:51 remaining. Two free throws by Justise Winslow and a basket by Okafor extended Duke's lead to eight before Gbinije recorded three straight points to put the Orange within five at 70-65 with 1:32 on the clock.

That was as close as Syracuse could get as Duke went 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the final minute to hold off the Orange's comeback attempt.

Okafor finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Quinn Cook added 17 for the Blue Devils. Duke shot 47.4 percent (27-for-57) from the field and hit 19-of-22 (86.4 percent) attempts from the free throw line. Syracuse's hot shooting did not carry over to the second half as hit just one of nine three-point attempts.

The Orange's homestand continues on Wednesday, Feb. 18 when it hosts No. 9/8 Louisville at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

Notes: Saturday's attendance (35,466) tied the NCAA record for largest on-campus college basketball crowd set a year ago when Duke came to the Dome . . .It was the second time this season Syracuse has had a crowd that exceeded 30,000 (Jan. 24, Miami, 30,677) and the 79th time in Dome history . . . Syracuse is now 52-27 in Dome games with 30,000+ in the stands . . . The matchup set an NCAA record for combined coaching wins -- Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim (964) and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (1,004) entered the game with 1,968 triumphs between them . . . Gbinije's previous game high was 24, scored against Long Beach State . . . Roberson had tallied 14 against Louisiana Tech . . . Christmas had a personal-best five assists.