Strong Second Half Leads 'Cuse Past EMU

Wednesday, December 27

7 PM

Syracuse University

(11-2)

Eastern Michigan

(8-4)

EMU

Syracuse

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

12/27/2017 8:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Sophomore Tyus Battle finished with 22 points and six rebounds to lead Syracuse (11-2) to a 62-47 victory over Eastern Michigan (8-4) Wednesday night in the Carrier Dome. The Orange outscored to Eagles 38-23 in the second half to secure the win.

Junior Paschal Chukwu totaled career-highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds along with five blocks. Chukwu finished the game 9-of-11 (81.8 percent) from the foul line.

Freshman Oshae Brissett recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 boards and junior Frank Howard added 11 points, seven assists and four steals.

How it was Decided
An 18-2 run over a time span of 7:33 gave Syracuse a 62-43 lead with 2:04 remaining. Four free throws along with a Brissett layup increased the Syracuse lead to eight. The Eagles made two free throws but back-to-back dunks from Chukwu and Brissett paired with five-straight points from Battle and layups from Marek Dolezaj and Chukwu resulted in the 19-point lead.

Game Summary
Eastern Michigan used an early 11-0 run to open up a six-point lead. Three Syracuse free throws trimmed the lead to three, but back-to-back layups gave the Eagles a 15-8 advantage. Howard drained a 3-pointer and Battle and Chukwu knocked down two foul shots each to even the score at 15 with 7:42 remaining in the half.

Another Howard 3-pointer gave the Orange a 21-18 lead. Eastern Michigan answered with a layup and then Chukwu tipped in an alley-oop from Howard. The Eagles converted another layup and a Chukwu free throw gave Syracuse a two-point advantage. An Eastern Michigan put-back shot as time expired evened the score at 24 at half.

The Orange used a 7-0 run to take a 33-26 lead. Chukwu drained two free throws followed by a layup and 3-pointer from Howard. Later in the half, Battle hit back-to-back treys to give Syracuse a 39-30 lead with 14:03 to play and an 11-2 Eastern Michigan run trimmed the Orange lead to two.

Numbers of Note
Syracuse shot 18-of-46 (39.1 percent) from the field and held Eastern Michigan to 20-of-54 (37.0 percent) shooting. The Orange also finished 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) from the free throw line and held a 38-30 advantage on the glass.

Chukwu's career-high point and rebound totals surpassed his 12 points and 11 boards against Oakland earlier this season. He now has at least two blocks in 8-of-12 games this year.

Elijah Minnie led the Eagles with 13 points. James Thompson IV added 12 points and nine rebounds and Paul Jackson finished with 10 points.

A season-high attendance of 21,925 filled the Dome to see the game. The total is the third-largest on campus crowd in the nation thus far during the 2017-18 season.

What's Next
Syracuse opens up ACC play on Sunday, Dec. 31 against Virginia Tech. Tip-off in the Carrier Dome is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tickets for all Orange home games are available online at Cuse.com, by phone at 1-888-DOMETIX or in person at Gate B at the Carrier Dome.