Syracuse Survives Scare

Syracuse scraped together a 75-71 win in Washington after blowing most of a 23 point halftime lead against Georgetown. The fifth ranked Orange were harassed by the Hoyas in the second half, but held on to improve their road record to 7-0 this season. Andy Rautins scored a season high 26 points against the tenth ranked Big East opponent. Rautins connected from beyond the arc with less than eight minutes in the game before Georgetown staged a 10-0 run to comeback and close within a basket of tying the game. The Hoyas had a chance to take the lead at 71-70 with a minute remaining, but Jason Clark’s shot trickled off the rim. Syracuse maintained their status of never trailing during the contest and staved off a furious rally on the road to win their 25th game. The Orange also clinched a first round bye in the upcoming Big East tournament.
Both teams were coming off surprising Sunday losses to unranked opponents. The Orange were stunned by Louisville and the Hoyas fell to an upstart Rutgers team in the unpredictable Big East. Last night was a chance at redemption for the storied schools. The home team has won the last eight times in the SU-Georgetown rivalry. History was not on the Orange side, and Georgetown certainly was out to prove that late in the game. The Orange built a luxurious lead early, successful on five of their first six buckets. They led by eleven before the game was even four minutes in old. Syracuse picked apart the potent Hoyas, draining three-pointers and grabbing rebounds. Rautins accounted for five three-pointers for Jim Boeheim’s Orange. Wesley Johnson poured in 16 points and eight boards and Rick Jackson donated 12. Johnson was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Syracuse sophomore, forward Kris Joseph, matched up against the Hoyas’ 6’10” center Greg Monroe, and netted 11 points. Monroe was the only Hoyas to deliver a free throw in the first 19 minutes of the game. The Hoyas went 9-of-29 from the field during the first half. Rautins didn’t make a field goal in the game’s final eight minutes.
The shining star for Syracuse was worn down while logging 36 minutes. Jackson and Arinze Onuaku were fouled out to add to the Orange challenges in the second half. The Hoyas scored 30 points in the paint during the second half. They only made four before the intermission. Junior guard, Austin Freeman, amassed 21 points to go along with six rebounds for Georgetown. Chris Wright fetched five steals and fired 20 points. Monroe matched Wright in points. The Orange were unable to defend all three Hoyas in the paint during the game’s final half. Boeheim was severely suffering from a lack of bench depth. Joseph pushed the Orange lead back up to seven with a pair of free throws with fewer than four minutes, but turned the ball over soon after. Freeman’s fastbreak picked pass went straight to the rim for a crowd-pleasing slam dunk and two point Georgetown deficit. Freeman started attacking the hoop in Washington’s second half. He hit 7-of-8 two point field goals in front of the D.C. faithful. Monroe continued to score at will down the stretch, but Thursday was the Orange’s night. Syracuse stifled and edged out their feisty opponent, shooting a nifty ninety percent from the charity stripe and holding the NCAA’s third best field goal shooting team to fewer than forty percent. Joseph drove past Monroe for the deciding bucket with nine seconds to go. Georgetown is mired in its first losing streak of the season. The Hoyas are 11-3 at home, and all three losses have come in their recent skid. Syracuse has yet to lose on the road and rebounded off their six point setback Sunday. The vivacious Orange own a 46-37 all-time advantage against the Hoyas.

Parting Points: Tiger Woods breaks the silence, USA wins a gold in men’s figure skating and the Nuggets hand the Cavs another loss. Nice way to finish the week in sports.