Orange Lose Heartbreaker At The Buzzer To Virginia

Thursday, March 11

Greensboro, N.C.

12 PM

Syracuse University

16-9,9-7ACC

Virginia

18-6,13-4ACC

Syracuse

Virginia

Orange Lose Heartbreaker At The Buzzer To Virginia

3/11/2021 2:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Jim Boeheim Press Conference Quincy Guerrier Press Conference Highlights Photo Gallery

GREENSBORO, N.C. - A buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Reece Beekman powered top-seeded Virginia (18-6) to a narrow 72-69 victory against Syracuse (16-9) in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Greensboro Coliseum.

HOW THE GAME WAS DECIDED
With the teams knotted at 69 with 11 seconds to play, Kihei Clark kicked the ball out to an open Beekman, who buried a triple at the horn to seal the victory and advance the Cavaliers to the ACC Tournament semifinals.

Buddy Boeheim led the Orange offense with a career-high 31 points. His scoring total was the most by a Syracuse player in an ACC Tournament game and the most by an Orange player in any game since Elijah Hughes tallied 33 at Georgia Tech last season.

Quincy Guerrier (14 points) and Robert Braswell (10 points) joined Boeheim in double figures. Guerrier tallied his eighth double-double of the season by grabbing a team-best 10 boards.

FROM COACH BOEHEIM
"I thought we played great" said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. "It was a great effort. I can't even describe Buddy's play. They had a guy all over him the whole game and he was tremendous. You can't ask for anything more out of a player than what he gave us today."

ORANGE ON THE MARK
The Orange opened the contest with a bang, tallying the game's first seven points over a two-minute sequence that featured a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer from Boeheim. Guerrier answered a Cavalier field goal with a two-handed slam to put Syracuse ahead 9-2 with four minutes gone in the contest.

Virginia answered back with five unanswered points to push the margin to two, but the Orange edged the 'Hoos 8-7 over the ensuing four minutes to claim a 17-14 advantage with 11:23 remaining in the opening frame.

CAVS BRING IT CLOSE
Syracuse added to its lead with a 7-0 scoring stretch that featured a Boeheim triple and field goals from Guerrier and Braswell to push the Orange advantage to double-digits, 24-14, at the midway point of the first half.

The Orange amassed an 11-point lead, their largest of the half, after Guerrier drained a free throw with six minutes to play in the period. However, the Cavalier offense closed the half strong by scoring 10 of the last 12 points to cut the 'Cuse lead to 39-36 at the break.

VIRGINIA VAULTS AHEAD
The Wahoos picked up right where they left off in the second stanza by scoring the half's first six points, which were capped by a triple from Sam Hauser that gave Virginia its first lead of the game, 42-39, with two minutes gone in the half.

Syracuse fought its way back in front with a 7-2 scoring stretch that featured five points from Boeheim to edge ahead, 46-44. However, the Cavs countered with a 7-3 stretch of their own to jump back ahead, 51-49, with 12:49 to play in the contest.

FIGHTING TO THE FINISH
With the 'Hoos ahead by four at the midway point of the half, the Orange offense posted six unanswered points, four of which came from Guerrier, over a four-minute stretch to take a two-point lead, 56-54, with six minutes to play.

Hauser helped the Cavs catapult back in front with five-straight points to give Virginia a 59-56 lead. The teams traded triples before the Wahoos went on a 5-0 scoring stretch to claim a 67-61 lead with two minutes remaining.

After Boeheim drained a jumper in the paint to cut the deficit to four, the Orange put on the press and forced a UVA turnover that led to a Guerrier dunk. The slam brought the 'Cuse within two. A pair of free throws from Trey Murphy III pushed the Cavalier lead back to four, but four-straight clutch free throws from Boeheim down the stretch evened the contest at 69.

With time winding down, Clark began to drive through the lane and dished a pass cross-court to Beekman, whose buzzer-beating 3-pointer sealed the Virginia victory, 72-69.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

The Orange outscored the Cavaliers on points off turnovers (17-8), second-chance points (17-9), bench points (12-10), points in the paint (22-18), and fast-break points (15-2).
Virginia converted 92 percent (11-of-12) of its attempts at the free throw line, the second-best free throw percentage by an Orange opponent this season. Boston College hit 12-of-13 (.923) on February 13.
Sam Hauser tallied a team-leading 21 points for the Cavaliers while Jay Huff recorded a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double.
Syracuse led for 22:19 while Virginia was only ahead for 10:43. The contest saw five lead changes and seven ties.
Buddy Boeheim's career-high 31 points pushed his career point total to 1,085, allowing him to pass Vaughn Harper (1,070 career points), Elijah Hughes (1,075 career points), Pete Chudy (1,079 career points), and Kueth Duany (1,084 career points) to claim sole possession of 58^th place on the program scoring list.
Boeheim's third 3-pointer of the game advanced him past Demetris Nichols (205 3-pointers) and into sixth place in Syracuse history for 3-pointers made. His five triples in the contest upped his career total to 207.
Robert Braswell tallied 10 points to post his second-straight double-digit scoring effort. It was the redshirt sophomore's third double-figure game and the first time he had scored 10+ points in back-to-back contests.
Braswell also finished the game with a team-best plus-minus rating (plus-9).

UP NEXT
The Orange await the decision of the NCAA Tournament Committee on whether or not they will earn an at-large berth into the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The bracket will be released on Sunday, March 14.

Gallery: (3-11-2021) Syracuse vs. Virginia (ACC Quarterfinal)

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