Syracuse Pulls Away From Clemson to Top the Tigers

Syracuse pulled away from Clemson down the stretch and earned an 91-78 victory Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome. With the win, Syracuse improved to 9-9 (3-4) on the season. Clemson falls to 10-8 (2-5). Next up for Syracuse is a matchup with #6 Duke at Cameron Indoor on Saturday at noon.

Syracuse was dominant offensively all night, and Clemson simply did not have enough answers to keep up with the Orange. While Syracuse's defense was not great, they got enough stops and forced enough contested threes to earn the victory.

It seemed to be a bit of history repeating itself as Syracuse jumped out to a double digit lead in the first half before the Tigers close the gap to just one at halftime. The Orange held a slim lead for the first seven minutes of the second half until an 8-2 run gave Syracuse some breathing room.

When Clemson threatened by closing the gap to just three, Syracuse responded with an 8-0 run. The Tigers did not get closer than six the rest of the way.

Buddy Boeheim, Joe Girard and Jesse Edwards were the stars for Syracuse in this one. Buddy led all scorers with 25 points, and also added five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Girard scored 23 points on 4-5 shooting from three point range, dished out five assists and snagged four steals. Edwards had 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Edwards' presence had a significant impact on the game. Clemson had no answer for him offensively, he was fantastic on the boards and Edwards even blocked two corner threes.

Syracuse got key contributions from the bench as well. Symir Torrence had four points and two assists in 14 minutes. Benny Williams had a block and a rebound in five minutes. Frank Anselem had two points and a rebound in four minutes. Bourama Sidibe added two points in two minutes.

PJ Hall had a terrific game for Clemson with 19 points and 11 rebounds. David Collins added 18 points for the Tigers.

Clemson came into the game as the ACC's third best field goal percentage defense, holding teams to just 40.9% shooting. Syracuse shot 53.4% Tuesday night. Clemson was also one of the better three point shooting teams at over 38% as a team. Syracuse held the Tigers to just 8-27 (29.6%) in the Dome.

Syracuse was dominant on the glass with a 39-26 edge.