Orange Lock Down Penmen in Exhibition Finale

Tuesday, November 1

Syracuse, NY

7 PM

Syracuse University

0-0,0-0ACC

Southern New Hampshire (exhibition)

0-0,0-0NE10

Southern N.H.

Syracuse

11/1/2022 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Jim Boeheim Press Conference Highlights Photo Gallery

Syracuse locked in a 72-58 exhibition victory over Division II Southern New Hampshire to close out preseason competition, inside the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday night.

Two Syracuse senior starters put up double-figures – guard Joseph Girard III (15) and center Jesse Edwards (13) led the Orange offensive effort.

The Penmen were led by Ethan Okwuosa, who punched in 12 total points.

WHEN THE GAME WAS DECIDED
SU keyed up a 10-0 run over SNHU to take a 26-10 advantage with 10:58 left in the first half and never looked back. Freshman forward Chris Bell began the scoring stretch with a 3-pointer, Edwards contributed the next five points, freshman forward Maliq Brown finished the run with a basket. In the first frame, SU's lead swelled as high as 24 points.

COACH BOEHEIM SAID
"I thought the first half was a really good improvement," said head coach Jim Boeheim. "Everybody went in, and everybody played well. I think one fault in the game was Judah (Mintz) and Benny (Williams) were settling for jump shots. In some games you're going to make those, but most of the time they're not that good to shoot and you can get by and make plays, but I think they'll learn from that. We learned from this, both exhibition games. Really smart, well-coached teams. We didn't win because we overpowered them, we won because we were better than them. We didn't overpower anyone for sure."

ORANGE DOMINATE EARLY
Edwards started the scoring for Syracuse by banking a second chance point off of his own hand in the paint just 24 seconds into the contest. The Penmen's Ethan Okwusosa then stole the ball from freshman guard Judah Mintz to make it a 2-2 game with 18:50 to go. The bucket by Okwusosa marked the only time the Penmen were even with the Orange on the evening.

Over the following four minutes of action, Syracuse went on a 12-3 run to make it a 14-5 game, with 14:45 left on the ticker. Girard combined a 3-pointer and three shots at the charity stripe to account for six of those points. Mintz opened the run with back-to-back shots to claim four within the stretch as well.

Throughout the last 12 minutes of the first half, the Orange outscored the Penman 20-13. Just under half of SU's points in that stretch came from Girard (five) and Brown (four).

The Orange went into the break leading, 43-23.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
The Penmen closed in on the Orange's hefty lead in the second half of play, as the visitors narrowed the gap to as low as 10 points in the second half. SNHU attempted to come within range of SU with a 12-4 scoring run, making it a 62-46 game with two minutes left in the contest. The Penman's run wasn't enough, and Syracuse took the win, 72-58.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

Tonight's win was the 25th straight exhibition victory for Syracuse, a streak that extends back to the 2010-11 season.
Syracuse paced Southern New Hampshire in bench points (27-19), second chance points (22-15), and fast break points (15-12).
Syracuse led Southern New Hampshire at the free-throw line, 85.7% (18-for-21) - 54.2% 13-for-24).
Girard recorded a game-high 15 points in the matchup.
Ethan Okwuosa led the Penmen with 12 points.

NEXT GAME
The Orange will open the regular season against Lehigh on Monday, Nov. 7, inside the JMA Wireless Dome. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. and the matchup will stream live on ACCNX.

TICKETS
Syracuse men's basketball tickets are available online (cuse.com/tickets), by phone (1-888-DOMETIX), and at the Dome Box Office (Gate B).

For complete coverage of Syracuse men's basketball, follow the team on Twitter (@Cuse_MBB) and Instagram (@cuse_mbb).

Gallery: (11-1-2022) Syracuse vs. SNHU