SU Basketball pulls away at the end to defeat Cornell

The Syracuse Men’s Basketball team used a run at the end of the game to fend off Upstate neighbor Cornell 72-53 at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday evening. The game held special significance for SU coach Jim Boeheim as his son, Jimmy, is a junior on the team at Cornell.

Jimmy Boeheim led all scorers and bested his brother in points by dropping 25 points. His brother Buddy had 16 for Syracuse.

The Orange were on fire to start the game, shooting 4-7 from deep and jumping out to a 16-9 lead at the first media timeout.

After switching up their defense, the Big Red only allowed ten points the rest of the half. They took the lead at 25-24 with 1:25 to go in the half and trailed by just one at the break, 26-25.

Buddy Boeheim specifically attributed the matchup zone that Cornell switched to as to why their defense was so effective after SU’s initial spurt.

Both teams kept going back and forth to start the second half, with Jimmy Boeheim coming out firing for Cornell.

He had a nice up and under for two and then hit a three the next time down, making it 35-33 with 15:39 left.

After that though, the Orange were able to go on a run and keep Cornell at arm’s length the rest of the game.

Marek Dolezaj had two quick twos in response and Joe Girard III proceeded to hit a three to extend SU’s lead to 9 with approximately 13 minutes to go.

After that, freshman Quincy Guerrier came in and played well. He had a strong move to the hoop for a two and then hit a corner three soon after. He finished the game with ten points, which comes on the heels of a season-high 14-point performance against Seattle.

His offensive outburst put the Orange up 57-44 with 5:30 left.

Boeheim complimented his performance in the second half.

“The one little spurt when Quincy got in gave us separation,” he said.

Down 12 with under two minutes to play, Elijah Hughes hit a dagger of a three-pointer at the top of the key as the shot clock expired to put SU up 67-52 with 1:30 left. He led SU in scoring with 22. Syracuse ended up winning 72-53.

Speckles of red throughout the crowd could be heard throughout the game in support of Cornell. Ithaca is approximately only an hour away.

Afterward, Coach Jim Boeheim was asked whether it was a perfect scenario that both of his sons played well and SU got the win.

“I don’t like coaching against my son. I had to get through it. I’m sure his mother’s happy.”

As far as his analysis of his two sons, he said that Buddy got good looks because Cornell was packed in. He also said that Jimmy was effective because he was able to penetrate down low.

Buddy Boeheim said that although his brother bested him in points, he gets the final word because SU won.

Jimmy Boeheim stayed around Syracuse all summer, practicing with the SU team.

“He played really well. I’m happy for him,” Elijah Hughes said afterward.

Jim Boeheim also said afterward that sophomore guard Jalen Carey will be out 8-10 weeks with his thumb injury. He said Carey will most likely medical redshirt.

The Orange will be back in action on Saturday against the Bucknell Bison at the Dome. Game time is 12:00 p.m.