Once again, Syracuse started slowly, but they heated up and came back for an 82-72 home win over Cornell. The Orange (4-2) fell into an early 12-point hole, but worked their way out of it before halftime, then held off three second half rallies from the Big Red (4-3) for the victory.
The first half righting of the ship came from some unexpected sources, as Donnie Freeman and Elijah Moore drove the play for SU. Freeman had eight points and seven rebounds in the final 7:40 of the half while Moore had 13 points before the break.
The two freshmen ended up the leading men for Syracuse, as Freeman tallied his third double-double of the season, finishing with game highs of 23 points and 12 boards. Moore was nearly as effective, connecting on 5-of-7 3’s as he finished with 19 points and added seven rebounds.
J.J. Starling was the only other player in double digits for the Orange, but struggled through a 3-for-17 shooting performance. Lucas Taylor added nine points and Jyare Davis, who started in place of Eddie Lampkin Jr., chipped in with eight.
Guy Ragland Jr. matched Moore’s long-range efforts and his five treys made up most of his team-high 17 points for Cornell. Cooper Noard hit four times from beyond the arc as he tallied 16 points, a mark matched by Nazir Williams. A.K. Okereke also cracked double digits with ten points.
SU could not buy a shot early, making just one of their first 15 shots from the field as Cornell needed just over six minutes to open up a 14-2 lead. However, they closed the half by outscoring the Big Red over the final ten minutes by a 33-11 margin.
The highlight was rattling off 15 straight points that turned a 20-11 deficit into a six-point advantage with three-and-a-half minutes before the break. The guests kept it within two possessions until Freeman and Moore combined for the final seven points of the half for a 39-28 Syracuse lead.
Cornell started the second half of almost as well as the first, posting a 10-2 burst to force an Orange timeout with the score 41-38. Chris Bell and Freeman responded by providing all the scoring in an 8-2 run that took less than 90 seconds to give SU a 49-40 lead.
The Big Red answered with a 9-2 run that brought them within a deuce, but the hosts had an even better response, posting 11 of the game’s next 13 points. That 11-2 streak put Syracuse in front by double digits once more, this time at 62-51 with just over nine minutes remaining.
The Orange kept Cornell at arm’s length until an 8-2 flurry clipped the gap to 73-69 with under three minutes to play. Moore answered with his fifth triple and Freeman added a jumper with under a minute to go, giving SU enough breathing room to hold on for the win.
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