Syracuse shoots great, holds on late for second straight ACC road win

Syracuse led for the final 38:35 of the game, but that lead did not feel safe until six late points iced an 83-71 win at Pittsburgh. The Orange (11-5, 2-1 ACC) watched their 18-point second half lead get whittled down to six by the Panthers (7-9, 0-3) with 6:33 remaining, but scored on three straight possessions with under two minutes to play to seal the victory.

Donnie Freeman coaxed a jumper to fall through the rim late in the shot clock for a 79-70 lead with just over 90 seconds on the clock. William Kyle III got a steal on the ensuing possession, which eventually led to a Nate Kingz lay-up as he leaked out behind the Pitt defense. After a pair of Pitt misses, Naithan George grabbed the rebound and was fouled, then connected on two from the stripe to seal the SU victory.

The Orange had their way on offense most of the day

Syracuse had their best overall shooting day of the season, connecting on 55.8 percent of their field goals, 45.5 percent of their 3-pointers, and 15-of-18 foul shots. Those marks rank second, first, and first (tied) for a single game on the season.

The Orange also had a season-high ten 3-pointers in the game, including making eight in the first half. Tyler Betsey, Freeman, and J.J. Starling each connected from long distance three times on the day.

After ceding the first basket of the game, SU ripped off eight straight points, including getting a corner 3 from Starling and an emphatic slam dunk from Kyle in transition for a six-point lead as the game became three minutes old. Shortly after the first media timeout, Syracuse added five more points for an early 13-2 lead.

SU kept the margin in double figures the rest of the first half

Freeman connected on a 3-pointer and added a three-point-play shortly after to push the lead to 19-4 with less than seven minutes elapsed. Pitt started chipping into the margin, but Tyler Betsey came off the bench to rebuild the Orange lead by hitting three 3-pointers to keep the hosts at bay, the last coming after the Panthers trimmed the deficit to single digits.

SU stretched their lead out to 16 points on a pair of occasions in the final three minutes of the opening half, but Pittsburgh scored the last five points before the horn to send both teams to the locker room with the guests’ lead trimmed to 48-37.

Syracuse quickly pushed the lead back out to 15 when the action resumed, including getting an absolute hammer of a putback dunk from Kyle. Shortly after that, Starling had seven points in a 10-4 run that built an 18-point lead at 64-46 less than six minutes into the second half.

Once again, Syracuse could not slam the door shut

The Panthers immediately slashed that lead down with seven straight points, then added a 9-2 burst a few minutes later to pull within 72-66 with six-and-a-half minutes to play. Freeman’s third triple of the day righted the ship for the Orange, but they went nearly four minutes late in the game without a point until their six straight markers put the game away.

Freeman led the Orange with 22 points, making 8-of-13 shots. Starling was also quite efficient, draining 7-of-11 shots from the field as he finished with 19 points. Kyle scored one point fewer than his last three outings combined with 11 points to go with four steals. Betsey’s three first half triples made for all nine of his points.

Brandin Cummings led all players with 29 points for Pittsburgh. After a blistering 7-for-7 start from the field, Cummings cooled off to shoot 11-of-17 overall. Roman Suilepa was the only other Panther in double figures with 13 points. Cameron Corhen chipped in with nine points while while Barry Dunning Jr. and Omari Witherspoon each added eight.

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