Second half surge propels Syracuse men’s basketball over Drexel 75-60
Syracuse comes back to beat Drexel 75-60
What started as a close game turned into a convincing win, as Syracuse Men’s Basketball took down Drexel 75-60 to move to 2-0 on the young season.
Buddy Boeheim led the Orange with 23 points, his brother Jimmy backed him up with 14 of his own, and the SU defense overcame a rocky start against the free-shooting Dragons.
Although Jimmy and his brother have been stealing the show so far, he pointed out that by no means is this only a 2-man effort.
“It’s a whole team. We had a lot of guys that can score,” Jimmy said. “(It’s) going to be like that every single night.”
Syracuse forward Jesse Edwards rises for a slam dunk.
Drexel's Amari Williams twists in the air to lay a bounce pass past Joe Girard III.
Syracuse’s second game of the season was a tale of two halves. In the first, the Orange came out a bit flat and struggled to defend Drexel’s pinpoint passing game. The Dragons focused heavily on setting up three-point attempts: they actually had more shots from outside the arc (17) than they did inside it (11) during the first half. Mate Okros was the top scorer for Drexel, netting 11 of their first 14 points and 16 in total.
“They’re really, really well-coached,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “They really move the ball. (In the) first half, we gave them too many open looks.”
The Orange were down 33-32 at halftime but came out of the locker room with aggression. Cole Swider and Joe Girard III each made three’s as part of an 8-0 run. Both players finished with 11 points on the night.
Girard has been a perfect 8-of-8 on 3-point attempts to start the year, something he sounded relieved about after the game.
“I mean, it’s great,” Girard said. “I’ve got to get my feet down on me to make good shots. I’ve been working on that – hopefully, it lets us keep moving forward and get some more.”
At that point, the score stood at 40-33. SU did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
Try as they might, the Dragons could not match the Orange offensively. A tremendous block by Jesse Edwards with less than 5 minutes to go sent the over 20,000 fans in the Dome into a frenzy. It also killed whatever momentum Drexel had left and all but sealed the deal in victory.
The Orange are back home on Saturday when they host Colgate. It is the last of three home games to start the year before the Orange travel to the Bahamas for the Battle for Atlantis tournament. Tip-off is at 5 p.m.
is a broadcast and digital journalism major from Scranton, Penn., and contributor for The NewsHouse.
is a photographer for the Infodemic project.
