In
the opening minutes, West Virginia controlled the action, scoring seven
straight points to take a 7-2 lead. But
Syracuse settled in and guard Eric Devendorf knocked down a three-pointer to
knot the game at nine apiece.
With
eleven minutes remaining, the Mountaineers held a five point lead. But that’s when the Orange’s defense started
to hunker down and force turnovers and bad shots. Syracuse’s 2-3 zone flustered WVU into six
turnovers and no field goals over the next seven minutes. That allowed the ‘Cuse to go on a 14-2 run
with four different players making baskets, ranging from three-point bombs to
easy layups.
Guard
Andy Rautins drained a shot from beyond the arc to give SU a 28-20 lead, its
largest of the half. The junior would
strike again minutes later with his third trey of the night. With two seconds left, Devendorf heaved a
shot from about three-quarters court and it hit nothing but net. While last night’s shot at the buzzer didn’t
count, this one left his hand in plenty of time to give the Orange a 36-29
advantage at the half.
Devendorf
led the way for SU with ten points with Rautins right behind at nine. The defense really helped the ‘Cuse as it
gave them extra possessions while West Virginia could not even attempt a
shot. Kristof Ongenaet was extremely
active on the wing, getting in the passing lanes and rebounding the
basketball. Syracuse collected thirteen
offensive boards against the Mountaineers in the opening twenty minutes.
After
a quick Syracuse score by Paul Harris to begin the second half, the
Mountaineers came out swinging. WVU
guard Alex Ruoff knocked down two shots from long range during a 13-0 scoring
run to erase the deficit and give his team a 42-38 lead.
Both
teams exchanged three-pointers, but Johnny Flynn’s trey tied the game and then
Ongenaet’s offensive rebound and two-handed slam put SU ahead again with more
than twelve minutes remaining.
West
Virginia though regained the advantage just minutes later after calling a
timeout to regroup. Syracuse countered,
scoring seven quick points, the last three coming off the hands of Devendorf to
make the score 54-50 Orange. Including
that shot, Devo scored the next nine points for SU. His last points came on another trifecta to
give the Orange a five point cushion with four minutes left in regulation.
Flynn
stepped to the free throw line trying to give SU a three point lead. He made the first, but the second rimmed out. West Virginia’s Devin Ebanks attacked the
basket with seconds to go and was fouled.
The freshman sank both free throws as part of a new career-high 22 points
to tie the game at 63-all and send it into overtime.
Instead
of waiting until the sixth overtime to take the lead like last night, the
Orange scored immediately on a layup by Harris.
Flynn would also sink an easy basket, as center Arinze Onuaku found the
point guard cutting down the lane with no one around him. Flynn then added two free throws to extend
SU’s lead to six. Down three with twenty
seconds to go, WVU attempted to tie the game with a three-pointer, but
Devendorf blocked the shot and then converted on the other end with a layup to
seal the deal for the Orange.
Some other
observations from Syracuse’s 74-69 win over West Virginia:
· The six overtimes
played against UConn the previous night didn’t seem to affect the Orange that
much. At times Flynn looked gassed, but
the guy’s played a ton of basketball. In
the three games in New York City, Flynn’s played 147 out of a possible 155
minutes. After playing 67 minutes
against the Huskies, Flynn played every second of this game against the
Mountaineers. He didn’t do so badly
either. Fifteen points to go along with nine
assists.
· Syracuse really hit
the glass, especially on the offensive end where it grabbed 21 caroms. Ongenaet led the way in that department with
a game-high ten boards. The defense was tremendous
as well, as the guys on the wings really used their hands well to disrupt the
passing lanes. The Belgian also led the
‘Cuse in that category with four steals.
· The Orange gave up 22
points to Ebanks and 21 to Da’Sean Butler, but it held sharp-shooter Ruoff to
only nine points on 3-of-9 shooting.
· Devendorf paced the
Orange with a game-high 23 points on 4-of-8 shooting from downtown. After Flynn’s fifteen comes Rautins who
dropped in twelve with an array of NBA range three-pointers. Harris, Ongenaet, Onuaku, and Rick Jackson
each chipped in with six points apiece.
· Syracuse is now 5-0 in
overtime games this season. This was the
third overtime game played by the Orange in its last four contests.
Syracuse
(26-8) advances to a record 14th Big East Championship game
appearance. It faces the regular season
conference champion Louisville (27-5) who beat the Orange 67-57 on
January 25 at the Carrier Dome. Tip-off
for Saturday’s game is at 9 p.m. on ESPN.