It took almost all 40 minutes to secure it, but Syracuse escaped with a victory in their season opener at the JMA Wireless Dome, edging cross-town foe Le Moyne, 86-82. The Orange trailed by as many as nine points in the first half and eight after halftime, but rallied to take the lead and held off a Dolphin comeback to claim the win.
SU survived a poor perimeter shooting night, as they shot 4-for-22 from long range, by making a lot of hay inside the arc in the second half. Syracuse made 17-of-24 (70.8 percent) of their two-point field goals after the break to key their rally. The Orange also put forth a strong rebounding effort, as they finished with a 46-32 advantage on the strength of snaring 20 offensive rebounds as every frontcourt player to see action pulled down at least three.
Le Moyne scored first and kept their lead through the opening minutes, using an 11-4 run to grab a 17-8 lead less than eight minutes into the season. The Orange turned things around with a 13-4 run of their own started by Petar Majstorovic and Jyare Davis, as each netted a three-point play. The burst knotted the game at 21 a side headed into the under-8 media break.
SU went in front by a single point three times, but the Dolphins responded each time, including with a 9-2 run that helped propel them to a 41-36 halftime advantage. Le Moyne continued playing well when the action resumed, stretching their lead to 48-40.
Syracuse responded with seven straight points, but could not take over the lead. A Chris Bell triple knotted the game, but Le Moyne responded with a 3 of their own to take the lead back, then added a jumper for a five-point lead.
Shortly after, the Orange ran off eight straight points to take their biggest lead to that point at 60-57. A couple minutes later, Chris Bell drained a 3-pointer to give SU a 65-60 lead, but the Dolphins immediately erased the gap by scoring on their next two possessions, tying the game headed into the under-eight media timeout.
Shortly after, the guests began to wilt under the bright lights of the LED ribbon boards, committing a pair of illegal screens, turning the ball over by stepping on the boundary, and a careless pass that turned into a Davis steal. Those miscues allowed the bigger Orange to take the lead, as they worked inside to put together nine straight points, including three lay-ups and a dunk, for a 76-68 lead with four-and-a-half minutes left.
The Dolphins corrected course, however, pulling within 81-79 on a fast break trey with a minute to play. J.J. Starling coaxed a lay-up to drop to double the Syracuse lead, but a Le Moyne 3-ball clipped the margin to 83-82 with 23.5 seconds to play.
Jaquan Carlos made one foul shot, then Bell broke up a handoff to prevent another Dolphin three, drawing a foul on the defensive play. He knocked down both foul shots to stretch the lead to 86-82 with six seconds to play. The Orange survived a missed 3-pointer and escaped with the win.
Davis led the way off the bench, posting a 22-point, 12-rebound double-double in his SU debut, including grabbing five offensive boards. Bell had 20 points, 16 in the second half, to back him. Starling added 14 points while Donnie Freeman had 10 points and 11 rebounds in his first career game. Eddie Lampkin Jr. chipped in with ten points.
Le Moyne had five players reach double figures, paced by Freds Pauls Bagatskis, who had 18 points. Will Amica added 12 points and Nate Fouts 11 while Dwayne Koroma and Zek Tekin each chipped in with ten.
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