Syracuse turned in a vintage performance on Saturday evening, combining an offense that scored at will for stretches with a defense that stifled Northeastern for a 76-48 win. That victory gave Jim Boeheim 1,000 wins in his career, as recognized by the NCAA, and lifted the Orange to 2-1 on the campaign. The Huskies are still looking for their first win after four contests.
SU asserted themselves on offense throughout, making over 50 percent of their shots in each half and finishing at 53.3 percent for the game. The Northeastern offense closed the game by making 5-of-10 shots from the field to get over the 30 percent mark in the game, closing at 32.2 percent overall and just 25 percent from deep. Syracuse also forced 18 turnovers on defense and enjoyed a 13-0 advantage in fast break points.
It was an impressive night for the “big three” of the Orange. Joe Girard III led all scorers with 21 points while not playing the final 9:01 of the game. Girard connected on five threes for the bulk of his work.
Jesse Edwards was an unstoppable force inside, making 8-of-10 shots from the field as he piled up 19 points. Judah Mintz dropped in 18 points and handed out five assists, three of them to Edwards.
Orange hit first four shots to jump out to a 9-0 lead in under two minutes. Northeastern responded with three straight threes to pull within 12-9, as Girard hit a trey to cap his hot start with eight points in the opening four minutes to keep SU in front.
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The Huskies kept the first half pretty tight, never falling more than seven points behind until the final six minutes. Syracuse blew the game open with nine straight points to start a 13-2 burst for a 39-25 halftime lead. Edwards (seven) and Mintz (six) took care of the scoring in that span for the Orange.
That duo tacked on three more points after the break to stretch the lead to 18. SU later got seven straight points to nudge the margin out to 21 points, then ten more unanswered markers to push the lead to 66-37 with 7:30 to play. Syracuse coasted home from there as Jim Boeheim substituted liberally with all 12 scholarship players getting credited with at least seven minutes of action.
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