After turning in another listless start, Syracuse fought their way back to knock off Notre Dame at the JMA Wireless Dome, 77-69. The Orange (9-9, 3-4 ACC) could do no right in the early minutes, trailing the Fighting Irish (8-10, 2-5) by 17 points just over nine minutes into the game. SU bounced back, though, trimming the margin to nine at half and taking their first lead with under four minutes to play en route to their third win in four outings.

Despite often struggling on that end of the floor this season, Syracuse won this game through their defense. After allowing the visitors a hot start in building their first half lead, the Orange held the Irish to just 27.0 percent shooting from the field, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range over the final 27-plus minutes. SU also forced nine turnovers in the second half and turned those into ten points.

The Fighting Irish hit their first three shots of the game, eventually running off the first nine points to force a Syracuse timeout. Notre Dame tacked on another bucket to make it an 11-0 start before a Jyare Davis 3-pointer got the hosts into the scorebook.

Getting on the scoreboard did not do much for the Orange, as they gave up an 11-2 run shortly after that, forcing Adrian Autry to call his second time out before the midpoint of the opening half with SU at the bottom of a 25-8 hole and Notre Dame shooting 10-of-16 overall and 4-of-5 from long range.

The margin stayed at 13 points or above for the remainder of the first half until Elijah Moore snapped a long dry spell by knocking down a 3 while getting fouled. The four-point-play capped a 9-2 run that pulled Syracuse within 40-31. That nine-point margin was also the case at the half with the Irish in front, 42-33.

Davis posted up for a basket, then Eddie Lampkin blocked a shot and led Moore for a transition lay-up to make it a five-point game. J.J. Starling followed that by swishing a straightaway 3 to make it a 16-2 Orange run wrapped around halftime to clip the Notre Dame lead to 42-40. The Fighting Irish broke through with their first field goal in nearly nine minutes on their next possession, but Lampkin matched the bucket to pull SU back within two.

The Irish put up eight of the game’s next ten points, including making six straight foul shots, to rebuild a 52-44 lead. Syracuse responded with six of eight points, including four at the stripe, to get back within 54-50 with a little over nine minutes left on the clock.

Notre Dame stretched the lead out to seven, but the Orange answered with a Lampkin dunk and a Starling lay-up to get back within three, then answered a Fighting Irish score with a Starling trey to get within 62-60. Starling then answered one free throw with three of his own to knot the game at 63 with 5:06 remaining.

Just over a minute later, Lampkin muscled in a putback while being fouled just before the final media timeout for the first SU lead of the day at 67-65. Starling added another lay-up to push the lead to four, then Syracuse got a stop and three offensive rebounds on their next trip, bleeding about 80 seconds off the clock.

That elongated possession came up empty when Lampkin missed two foul shots with just over a minute to play. The Orange made up for those misses by getting another stop, then connecting on 8-of-10 foul shots in the final 15.2 seconds to second the victory. Kyle Cuffe Jr. drained all six of his shots at the line, including four resulting from Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsbury getting two technicals and an ejection with 0.9 seconds remaining.

Starling overcame a rough first half by scoring 16 of his team-high 21 points after the break. Lampkin made it double-doubles in four straight games by posting 13 points and 11 rebounds. Cuffe’s 10-of-10 mark at the line powered his 13-point contribution. Davis and Moore each chipped in with eight points.

Markus Burton destroyed the Orange in the opening minutes, needing just over 15 minutes of game time to roll up 22 points, but was hampered after then, finishing with 28 points. Braeden Shrewsbury had 14 points while Matt Allocco and Tae Davis each scored 11 as only five Irish players dented the points column of the scoresheet.

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