Now it’s on to ACC play
The Syracuse Orange (9-4) closed the non-conference portion of their schedule with an uninspiring home performance in a win over the Stonehill Seahawks (3-10). The final margin could have been a lot wider but the Orange shot a dismal 48% (14-29 ) from the foul line.
Naithan George led the way with 22 points. JJ Starling had 20 points, Nate Kingz and Sadiq White added 13 each. It wasn’t a great scoring night for William Kyle as he had 3 points, but he added 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Syracuse got out to a quick start as once again JJ Starling got it going early as he quickly got the 7 points he needed to pass 1,000 in a Syracuse uniform. The Orange hit 4 of their first 6 attempts from beyond the arc as they built a double-digit lead in the first five minutes.
All those good vibes went away after Adrian Autry went to a full 2nd unit. Syracuse’s rhythm was broken and Stonehill started to find more opportunities thanks to 7 offensive rebounds. The Orange sputtered to close the half-scoring 4 points in the final minutes, 3 coming from Nate Kingz shot in the final seconds. It was a 39-27 lead for Syracuse behind 27 combined points from Starling and George.
The second half featured a much better effort defensively for Syracuse, but free throw shooting kept the lead from really growing. William Kyle scored to make it 48-37 with 13:20 to go, and when Stonehill got a basket at the 8:51 mark they made it a 52-41 game. Syracuse wasn’t settling for jumpers in the stretch but leaving points at the line was disappointing.
It took a 9-0 run to finally put the Orange up by more than 20. That stretch featured a lot of good work from Nate Kingz. He came off the baseline to hit a 3, then blocked a Stonehill 3 which led to a Starling layup, he scored off an offensive rebound and set a back screen to free Sadiq White for a lob. The corner 3 came against a Stonehill zone, so it was nice to see the Orange actually run a set to get an open look
Syracuse shot 9-21 from 3 and only committed 5 turnovers. The Orange held Stonehill to 26% shooting from the field with 12 blocks on the night for Syracuse. It didn’t feel like it because of the offensive struggles, but the Orange defense stifled Stonehill in the final twenty minutes.
Syracuse is now off until December 31st when they open ACC play at home against the Clemson Tigers.
Category: General Sports
