Syracuse rallied past Cornell on Saturday, 78-63. Here are four key takeaways from the win:
Cornell cools off after torrid start
Cornell jumped out to an early 25-14 lead on a barrage of 3-pointers. Nazir Williams opened scoring with a 3 before Isaiah Gray, Greg Dolan and Keller Boothby each connected from beyond the arc as the Big Red started off strong. But Cornell cooled off significantly from there as they shot 13 for 48 on the evening. Guy Ragland Jr. struggled in particular, hitting just 1 of 8 from downtown, and after his initial 3, Keller went just 1-8 the rest of the way.
Chris Bell shows life on the boards
For much of the season, Jim Boeheim has lamented about the rebounding effort of his starting freshman wing, Chris Bell. Despite averaging nearly 20 minutes a game, Bell has been nearly non-existent on the glass, averaging just 1.1 rebounds. Bell didn’t record a single rebound in 12 minutes in SU’s win over Monmouth earlier in the week. But Boeheim got more of the effort he wanted on Saturday, as Bell grabbed a career-high five rebounds to go with 13 points. Was that his most well rounded performance of the season? “I would say so,” Bell said.
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Maliq Brown earns a hand
Maliq Brown drew a raucous cheer from the crowd in the second half for his yeoman effort. The reserve freshman big man played 13 minutes, and was active during that time, with 4 points and 4 rebounds. He’s played wing for most of the season, but played key minutes at center. Meanwhile, Jesse Edwards, after taking just one shot in the first half finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks for his fifth double-double of the year.
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Joe Girard keys Syracuse run
Joe Girard had one of his best performances of the season, finishing with 19 points on 3-8 shooting from downtown and a team-high 4 asssts. He was at the center of Syracuse’s rally in the first half when he had five points and an assist during a 7-0 run to pull the Orange to within 25-21. He’s up to 1,308 points in his SU career, passing Tony Bruin for 39th all-time at Syracuse.
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