National Basketball Association
Syracuse 77, North Florida 71
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 3, 2016
Where: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York
Officials:
# Jeffrey Anderson, # Nathan Farrell, # Evan Burroughs
Attendance:
22372
By The Sports Xchange
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse Orange found their 3-point shooting stroke where they left it -- at the Carrier Dome.
The 22nd-ranked Orange sank 13 of 24 3-point attempts (54.2 percent) Saturday afternoon as they built a 24-point lead and held on for a 77-71 win over the North Florida Ospreys before 22,372 fans at the Dome.
The Orange (5-2) shot 45.7 percent from beyond the arc in their first four games at the Dome, but then shot only 27.8 percent from 3-point range in road losses against 20th-ranked South Carolina and 17th-ranked Wisconsin.
Fifth-year transfer Andrew White (team-high 26 points) and freshman guard Tyus Battle (19) combined for 45 points against North Florida on 15-for-22 shooting, including 11 for 18 from beyond the arc against the Ospreys' zone.
"If you move the ball in the zone, it's impossible to not get an open shot at some point," said White, who sank 7 of 13 3-point shots and is shooting 41.7 percent from long range this season. "Coach (Jim Boeheim) just gives me the green light and encourages me to shoot, so I was taking a couple of deep shots, they felt really good and I got a couple to go, and my teammates kept looking for me."
Orange point guard Frank Howard had 10 points and a career-high 13 assists with just two turnovers and center DaJuan Coleman scored a career-high 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting.
North Florida senior guard Dallas Moore, the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, led all scorers with 30 points on 10-for-19 shooting (6 for 13 from 3-point range). Nick Malonga added 12 points for the Ospreys while Romelo Banks and Wajid Aminu each grabbed 10 rebounds as North Florida (3-7) held a 41-33 edge on the boards.
Moore, who is drawing attention from NBA scouts, scored eight points in the first half on 3-for-9 shooting. But he warmed up in the second half and led North Florida's comeback as he shot 7 for 10 from the field and 4 for 7 from 3-point range in the second half.
"I just had to see the ball go in a couple of times," Moore said. "I was struggling in the beginning because they're so long, but after a while I got adjusted, my teammates found me and I started to knock down shots."
Moore's left shoulder was bothering him after the game, and North Florida coach Matthew Driscoll said Moore would be taken to the hospital for X-rays as a precautionary measure.
Syracuse outscored the Ospreys 23-6 at the end of the first half and start of the second half and built its lead to 24 (56-32) at the 12-minute mark of the second half. The Orange then inserted its bench players, and Moore led a 36-17 run that enabled the Ospreys to pull within five with one minute remaining.
"For a quite a bit of time at the end of first half and start of second half we moved the ball and did some very good things on offense," Boeheim said. "But we didn't do a good job of adjusting when we changed to our different guys.
"We've got to be able to come in off the bench and help," Boeheim added.
North Florida's bench outscored Syracuse's bench 14-1 after being outscored 51-16 by 24th-ranked Florida's bench in a 91-60 loss this past Thursday.
"We played two days ago and got smashed at home," Driscoll said. "So you come up here and you're down 24 and you're about to get smashed again. So you had two choices, like I told them in the (12-minute) timeout, you can get smashed, or you can have a little bit of moxie and a little bit of toughness."
The Orange made only 4 of 8 free throws in the closing minute, but those points and a key steal by White were enough to hold off a North Florida team that has loaded its schedule with teams from Power 5 conferences. Syracuse's Battle said the Orange were fortunate that North Florida didn't get hot until the final 10 minutes.
"I think we should have done a lot better, especially in the second half," Battle said. "They got hot but we didn't limit the 3-point shots at all. We just got lazy. Against a good team, we would have lost tonight."
NOTES: Ospreys F Chris Davenport, who is one of only four players in North Florida history with 1,000 points and 600 rebounds, did not play Saturday for a second consecutive game because he is suspended indefinitely for violating team policies. . . . Davenport's replacement in the starting lineup was freshman F Wajid Aminu, the younger brother of current Portland Trail Blazers F Al-Farouq Aminu. Al-Farouq played on the Nigerian national team with former Syracuse G Michael Gbinije, who is now in the NBA D-League for the Detroit Pistons. . . . Ospreys G Dallas Moore has 1,839 career points and is on pace to become the eighth player in Atlantic Sun Conference history to reach 2,000.
Top Game Performances
North Florida |
|
Syracuse |
Dallas Moore 30 |
Scoring |
Andrew White III 26 |
Dallas Moore 5 |
Assists |
Frank Howard 13 |
Al-Wajid Aminu 10 |
Rebounds |
Tyler Lydon 9 |
Dallas Moore 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Frank Howard 5 |
Aaron Bodager 3 |
Steals |
Frank Howard 4 |
N/A |
Blocks |
DaJuan Coleman 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
North Florida
|
71 |
39.7 |
11-39 |
10-16 |
12 |
35 |
0 |
5 |
14 |
Syracuse
|
77 |
48.1 |
13-24 |
14-24 |
20 |
31 |
3 |
10 |
12 |