SU Barely Escapes Against West Virginia

       The No.5 Syracuse Orange improved to 17-1 overall on the year, and 4-1 in Big East play, as they barely escaped Morgantown, West Virginia, with a win 72 to 71 over the No.9 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers.  The crowd was rocking in the beginning of this game to host the first top 10 game between SU and WVU in 50 years in front of 15,271 fans, however, all of the rowdy fans became silent very quickly as The Cuse played their hometown Mountaineers and Bobby Huggins team very tough in the first half.  Overall, The Cuse led throughout the first half, as the stingy SU 2-3 defense totally perplexed the WVU players.  Nonetheless, it took the entire first half for each team to figure each other out and find a way to create high percentage opportunities to score.  This could be seen as the score at half was 26-25 SU, while each team erupted for 46 up and down second half points to make this an extremely exciting game.
       I hate to have to bring this up, but Big East officials Mike Stephens, Wally Rutecki, Jim Haney, called the game extremely tight and must have had a conference call before the game which was focused entirely around calling charge after charge after charge against SU players.  Scoop Jardine was called for a charge twice, one was questionable at best, and the other one was definitely not a charge; maybe just something to appease Bobby Huggins, since he was tearing into the referees throughout the entire game.  I can understand calling the game tight, however, this is Big East ball, so the ticky tack fouls and charges need to be eliminated or at least kept in check, as Andy Rautins fouled out of the game, while Wesley Johnson nearly did with his 4 fouls.
      

Brandon Triche started the game slow with a couple turnovers and some indecisive maneuvering from outside, however, he played tough in the second half and showed everybody his aggressive side.  Maybe Triche just needed to get a little upset in order to play his best, as his unemotional style of play didn't help him early, but his forceful drives showed he has the physical attributes to dominate smaller guards.  Triche turned it around and put up 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field.  He also added 5 assists to those 5 turnovers he had early on.  Triche showed leadership and an ability to rise to the occasion, as he responded to adversity with WVU getting the SU 11 point lead down to 1 with 6 seconds to play.  The Mountaineers went nuts from 3 with under 2 minutes left, as they shot 5 of 7 from three point land, however, their last 3 pointer to try and win the game was from well past half court.  This was a huge road win for The Cuse against a top 10 opponent.  However, West Virginia must be dissapointed they lost out on protecting their home court dominance and getting a top 5 victory on their resume, as they were 30-5 in home games under Huggins.  Big W for the Cuse today, phenomenal game!!