Girard's 24 Points Powers Syracuse past Boston College
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SYRACUSE, NY — The final score doesn’t always tell the true story of a game. With 11:03 left in the second half, Boston College led 53-51 as Syracuse’s Jesse Edwards sat on the bench with four fouls. But Syracuse prevailed because of their guard play, as Joe Girard III and Judah Mintz led the Orange to a 79-65 win over Boston College.
“We’re not playing at the level we have to play at,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘We had a few good days of practice but it didn’t show tonight and we’re going to have to get a little better.”
The Orange improve to 9-5 and 2-1 in ACC play with the win. Boston College falls to 7-7 and 1-2 in ACC play with the loss.
Girard finished shooting 8-19 from the field and 4-10 from 3-point range. Mintz had 18 points on 8-15 shooting to go along with seven assists and four turnovers.
“Joe and Judah were really good,” Boeheim said.
Syracuse shot 48% from the field, 87% from the free-throw line and 50% from 3-point range.
Boston College was led by Makai Ashton-Langford who finished with 14 points on 5-12 shooting from the field and 2-5 shooting from deep. Prince Aligbe and T.J. Bickerstaff each added 12 points for the Eagles as well. Boston College finished shooting 40% from the field, 71% from the line and 33% from beyond the arc.
Benny Williams also had a strong performance, although it took a little while for the sophomore forward to get going.
The opening moments for the Orange were sloppy, as they committed two turnovers on their first two possessions. Boeheim was once again frustrated with Williams, as he was subbed out for Maliq Brown less than three minutes into the game.
After getting the early hook, Williams came back into the game looking like a man possessed. He was active on the glass and hit back to back perimeter jumpers. Williams scored seven points in the last two minutes of the first half to propel the Orange to a 36-27 lead.
“The game turned a little bit in the first half,” Boeheim said. “Benny has been shooting it well in practice and he made a couple of shots. Then he got on the boards, that’s something he can do whether he makes shots or not. Rebound, play defense, he hasn’t been doing that. It was a good game for him.”
Williams finished with 16 points on 6-11 shooting, including 2-2 from deep. He also had a career-high 11 rebounds.
“Benny is very capable of being a double-double guy,” Boeheim said. “He hasn’t shown that in the games, he’s had a couple of games but he hasn’t shown that. But he’s our best forward and he’s going to get every opportunity to do what he can do.”
Boeheim once again went to his bench early as Quadir Copeland, Mounir Hima, John Bol Ajak and Symir Torrence all got in before the 12:00 point of the first half.
The bench provided the much needed spark. After being down by as much as seven with 13:15 left, Ajak and Torrence brought leadership and great passing to get the offense going in the first half. Copeland had his hands in passing lanes and the Orange came back and took the lead 19-17 with 8:39 left.
“It really gives us life, if someone like me or Benny is struggling and John and Sy can come in and really take on that role of holding it down for us until we get our things together, it helps us,” Mintz said. “We went on a run when I was on the bench so it goes to show our depth and how many guys can play.”
Syracuse started slow once again at the beginning of the second half. Shots weren’t falling and Syracuse was getting beat getting back on defense and on the backline of the zone. Boston College went on a 12-0 run to make the score 48-46 Boston College.
“We did a good job defensively the first half. Second half, we didn’t,” Boeheim said. “We let them get inside too much and when we forced a miss we didn’t get the ball back. You can’t do that.”
Justin Taylor then came in and provided a spark. He hit two 3-pointers to give the Orange some breathing room as the Orange went on a 10-2 run to make it 59-53 with 9:06 left in the game.
Syracuse created a gap with Edwards on the bench and Mounir Hima in the middle of the 2-3 zone. Hima blocked four shots in 15 minutes of play.
Girard and Mintz both got to the basket and made some contested layups down the stretch as the Orange built up a double-digit lead late in the second half.
The Orange hit the road for their next game as they are at Louisville on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 7:00 pm.
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