Christmas Joins Elite Company in Win at #9/8 Notre Dame

Tuesday, February 24

South Bend, Ind.

8:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

18-10, 9-6ACC

Notre Dame

24-5, 12-4ACC

Team	1	2	F
Syracuse	27	38	65
Notre Dame	22	38	60

Christmas Joins Elite Company in Win at #9/8 Notre Dame

2/24/2015 10:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Rakeem Christmas' double-double leads Syracuse to victory against #9/8 Fighting Irish.

Senior Rakeem Christmas scored 14 points and became the 59th player in school history to record 1,000 career points in Syracuse's 65-60 victory at No. 9/8 Notre Dame. Christmas also pulled down 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season as the Orange handed the Fighting Irish its second loss at home this season.

Christmas was one of four Syracuse players to reach double figures in scoring. Sophomore B.J. Johnson tied his career high with 19 points to help the Orange to a 25-16 advantage in bench points. Junior Michael Gbinije finished with 12 points, while redshirt junior Trevor Cooney added 11 points.

Syracuse (18-10, 9-6) jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first five points of the game but the Fighting Irish (24-5, 12-4) quickly came back and took a 7-5 advantage, which would be its only lead of the night. Ron Patterson's dunk at the 14:26 mark sparked SU on a 6-0 scoring run that gave SU the lead for good. Christmas capped the run with a three-point play, which put him over the 1,000 career point mark, and gave the Orange a 13-7 advantage.

Syracuse led by seven, 20-13, when Christmas picked up his third foul with 6:53 on the clock, forcing him to the bench for the remainder of the half. Two free throws by Steve Vasturia cut the lead to five, but five straight points by Johnson gave the Orange its largest lead of the half at 25-15 with 2:59 on the clock. Syracuse led 27-17 before Notre Dame tallied the final five points of the half to cut the Orange's lead to 27-22 at intermission. Johnson finished the half with nine points, while Christmas had seven points and eight rebounds. Syracuse's defense held the Fighting Irish, the second-highest scoring team in the ACC, to just five field goals and it lowest first half point total this season.

Notre Dame continued its scoring run in the second half as it registered the first four points after the break to cut Syracuse's advantage to one at 27-26. The Orange responded with a 7-2 scoring run, capped by a three-pointer by Johnson, to extend the lead to 34-28. Christmas was called for his fourth foul at the 13:47 mark, but remained in the game and his free throws with 9:53 on the clock gave SU a 44-35 advantage.

The Orange led by eight, 49-41, when Christmas fouled out with 5:18 on the clock. The Fighting Irish recorded four straight points to get within four at 49-45 before Cooney hit a jumper from the corner with the shot clock winding down despite being double teamed to put SU back up by six. Four straight points by Notre Dame cut the lead to two, but Cooney responded with a three-pointer again with the shot clock winding down and then scored on a layup to give Syracuse a 56-49 lead with 1:43 remaining.

Notre Dame wouldn't go away and Jerian Grant's three free throws with 38 seconds remaining brought the Fighting Irish within two at 59-57. That was as close as Notre Dame would get. Gbinije split a double team in the backcourt and connected with Johnson on a long pass into the frontcourt, which led to a dunk. Johnson was fouled on the play and made the free throw to put the Orange back up by five as it went on to the 65-60 victory.

The Orange shot 40.4 percent (23-for-57) from the field and held Notre Dame to just 35.4 percent (17-for-48), well below its 51.3 percent average this season.

Syracuse will face another top 10 team on Saturday, Feb. 28 when it travels to Durham, N.C. to face Duke.