Syracuse, N.Y. ― It was six of the best minutes the Syracuse Orange has played so far this season.
Syracuse decided its 95-66 win over the Oakland Grizzlies at the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday night with a furious finish to the first half.
The Orange ended the first half on an 18-0 run to take a 45-24 lead into the intermission and cruised from there to victory. The 95 points exceeded the Orange’s previous season-high scored in a 90-72 win over Lehigh on Nov. 7.
The win raised Syracuse’s record to 5-4 ahead of Saturday’s rivalry revival with Georgetown at the Dome.
An incredible dunk from freshman Chris Bell ignited the Orange’s rally. Syracuse led 27-24 after Oakland’s Keaton Hervey scored on a breakaway layup. Jesse Edwards threw in a hook shot for a 29-24 lead, but then Oakland turned the ball over on a lob pass that caromed off the backboard and started a Syracuse fastbreak.
Joe Girard threw a long baseball pass to Bell, who rose high above Oakland’s Will Shepherd and threw down an emphatic dunk for a 31-24 lead. Girard followed with back-to-back 3-pointers and the rout was on.
The Orange shut out Oakland (2-9) for the last 6 minutes of the half.
Girard and Jesse Edwards both scored 18 points to lead the Orange. Edwards snared seven rebounds, while Girard recorded six assists.
Edwards finished the game 9-for-9 from the floor, becoming just the fourth player in Syracuse history to make all of his field-goal attempts with a minimum of nine attempts.
The other three: Rick Dean (13-for-13 on Feb. 14, 1966 at Colgate), Hakim Warrick (11-for-11 on Feb. 14, 2004 at Miami), and Arinze Onuaku (9-for-9 on Dec. 15, 2007 against East Tennessee State).
The blowout allowed Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim to give extended minutes to several reserves, while Edwards and Girard watched the final 17 minutes from the bench.
John Bol Ajak played a key role in SU’s first-half eruption. He was on the floor during the entire run and had two points, six rebounds and three assists in that time alone. Justin Taylor played 15 minutes in the first half.
In the second half, Syracuse had a lineup of Symir Torrence, Judah Mintz, Quadir Copeland, Maliq Brown and Mounir Hima on the court with over 15 minutes left in the game.
Brown finished with 12 points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time. Torrence scored 12 points and dished out five assists in 13 minutes.
A trio of walk-ons entered the game with 4:44 remaining and Syracuse in command with a 93-51 lead.
In the first half, Syracuse held Oakland to 1-for-13 shooting from outside the 3-point line. Trey Townsend, Oakland’s 6-foot-6 power forward, scored 14 of Oakland’s first 21 points, repeatedly finding space in the back of SU’s zone defense.
But when Syracuse closed off the passing lane into the lower block, Townsend didn’t score over the last 10 minutes of the half.
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