Syracuse blows most of their 29-point lead, holds on to beat Notre Dame
Syracuse built a 29-point lead late in the first half and needed almost every point as Notre Dame’s furious rally fell short, giving the hosts an 88-85 win at the JMA Wireless Dome. The Orange (18-10, 9-8 ACC) took a 49-20 lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the opening half, but the Fighting Irish (9-17, 4-12) pulled within 20 at the break and eventually just three with a little over a minute to play.
SU missed a pair of chances to extend the lead in the final minute, but Braeden Shrewsberry missed a 3-pointer to tie the game with under 20 seconds left. Chris Bell rebounded and was fouled, then made a pair of foul shots to put Syracuse up by five. Markus Burton raced in for a lay-up to pull the Irish within three once more.
Quadir Copeland caught a long inbounds pass and eventually was fouled, but could not convert the front end. Burton missed a deep game-tying 3 and Maliq Brown swatted the ball away from the glass. Kyle Cuffe Jr. grabbed the ball and was fouled with 1.2 seconds remaining, but also missed the front end of his bonus opportunity. Notre Dame’s full-court heave did not have enough steam, allowing the Orange to hold on.
The tale of the two halves was represented by turnovers early and shooting late. The Fighting Irish committed 11 of their 17 mistakes in the first half, allowing SU to hold a 23-7 lead in points off turnovers in that time and eventually finish with 31 points off their errors.
Notre Dame made up for that by blistering the nets in the second half, shooting 68.8 percent overall and 10-of-15 (66.7 percent) from long range. Meanwhile, a Syracuse offense that shot nearly 61 percent in the opening half slid to 45.2 percent in the second session.
The Irish opened the game with the first two scores for an early 5-0 lead, then their offense went south while the Orange offense got into gear. SU broke through by making 6-of-7 shots from the floor to start a 24-4 run for a 15-point lead.
Judah Mintz got things rolling, dropping in ten points during the burst, but Syracuse’s success was also due to their defense. Notre Dame shot just 2-of-5 from the field during the run and turned the ball over seven times in that span, which wrapped before the midpoint of the opening half.
The Fighting Irish shaved a couple points off that gap, but the hosts responded with a 17-2 run, featuring seven points from Justin Taylor operating on the baseline. That burst grew the Orange lead to 44-16 late in the first half. The SU lead touched a game-high 29 shortly after that on a J.J. Starling 3-pointer, but the guests tallied nine straight points in the final 90 seconds of the half to pull within 49-29.
Syracuse pushed the lead back out to 23 points twice in the opening two minutes and change of the second half, but back-to-back 3’s for the Irish clipped the gap to 54-37 and earned an Adrian Autry time out. The break did not slow down Notre Dame, who scored eight of the next nine points to make it a 14-1 run and pull within 55-45 less than five minutes into the second half.
The Orange held up for a few minutes, even rebuilding the lead to 14, but the Fighting Irish lived up to their name, outscoring SU by a 14-4 margin to claw back within 69-65 with eight minutes remaining. Chris Bell stuck a 3 to stop the bleeding and Maliq Brown converted a steal into a pair of foul shots to immediately push Syracuse to a nine-point lead.
The lead bounced between six and ten points for the next five minutes, but Shrewsberry and Julian Roper II hit consecutive 3’s to bring Notre Dame within three with just over a minute to play.
Mintz led the Orange with 21 points and also snared three steals. Bell went 4-of-5 from 3-point range for most of his 18 points. Brown and Starling each had 14 points while Taylor made it all five SU starters in double figure scoring with ten by not missing a shingle shot (4-for-4 field goals, 2-for-2 free throws).
Burton topped all scorers with 28 to pace Notre Dame, including 20 in the second half. Shrewsberry hit six 3’s, all in the second half, to finish with 18 points. Tae Davis added a dozen markers while Carey Booth had nine while Kebba Njie and Roper each added eight.
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