Boeheim Lifts Orange Over Hokies

Saturday, January 18

Blacksburg, VA

12 PM

Syracuse University

11-7,4-3ACC

Virginia Tech

13-5,4-3ACC

Syracuse

Virginia Tech

1/18/2020 2:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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BLACKSBURG, VA. – After an 18-point first half from Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse (11-7, 4-3 ACC) held on in the second to defeat Virginia Tech (13-5, 4-3), 71-69, Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg. The win avenged the Jan. 7 loss to the Hokies in the Dome and gave the Orange their third consecutive conference victory.

Boeheim led all scorers and tied his season high with 26 points, shooting 10-of-20 from the field and adding five buckets from behind the arc. Elijah Hughes added 17 points and Marek Dolezaj posted his second straight double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds).

ORANGE HOLD ON
Trailing 66-58 with 4:11 on the clock, Virginia Tech put together a 7-0 run with 3-pointers from Nahiem Alleyne and Landers Nolley II that cut the Syracuse lead to one with less than two minutes to play. The Orange lead was 70-69 with 40 seconds left in regulation following field goals from Hughes and Dolezaj, and Wabissa Bede failing to convert a 3-point play for the Hokies.

With the ball and 10 seconds left, Virginia Tech's Nolley misfired on a 3-pointer and Dolezaj secured the miss. Dolezaj then sealed the triumph with a free throw.

HOT HOKIE START
Four 3-balls out of Hokie hands and four Syracuse fouls put the home team ahead 14-8 6:05 into the contest. Freshman guard Jalen Cone was responsible for two of the shots behind the arc. Six of the first eight Orange points came in the paint.

BUDDY BUCKETS
Syracuse responded with nine straight points as part of a 28-6 scoring run over seven minutes thanks to the hot shooting of Boeheim. The sophomore scored 18 consecutive points for the Orange, knocking down four 3-pointers in the process.

Despite allowing an 8-0 run, 'Cuse outscored the Hokies, 28-14, in the final 13:33 of the first half and led 36-28 at halftime. Boeheim went to the break leading all players with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting with four makes from downtown.

ALL OVER THE GLASS
The Orange handedly won the rebounding battle in the first half, 22-15. Quincy Guerrier pulled down eight boards in 11 minutes of action off the bench and Dolezaj contributed six of his own. They finished with nine and 11, respectively.

1,000 FOR HUGHES
A turnaround floater in the paint by Elijah Hughes with 8:52 to play in the second half gave the redshirt junior 1,000 points for his collegiate career. Hughes recorded 194 points during his freshman season at East Carolina.

Gallery: (1/18/2020) Syracuse at Virginia Tech

NOTABLE NUMBERS

Three different Syracuse players ended the afternoon in double figure scoring -- Boeheim (26), Hughes (17), and Dolezaj (11).
The Orange used a different method to produce points in this outing and outscored the Hokies in the paint, 34-12.
Syracuse made just four turnovers in the contest.
The Orange won the rebounding battle, 35-33.
Syracuse shot 48.3 percent (29-60) from the field with six 3-balls. Virginia Tech shot 25-59 (42.4 percent) with 15 3-pointers on 37 tries.
Howard Washington contributed a solid 16 minutes of reserve work. He recorded two points, a rebound, an assist and a steal.

UP NEXT
The Orange hit the road again, taking on Notre Dame Wednesday night in South Bend. That game tips off at 7 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN2.

Tickets for all regular-season home games are on sale now online (Cuse.com/tickets), by phone (888-DOME-TIX) and at the Dome Box Office located in the Ensley Athletic Center.

For complete coverage of Syracuse men's basketball, follow us on Twitter (@Cuse_MBB), Instagram (cuse_mbb) and like us on Facebook (SyracuseOrange).