Syracuse Holds Off The Golden Eagles

      The No.5 Syracuse Orange(19-1) barely held off the pesky Marquette Golden Eagles(11-8) 76 to 71 on Saturday in front of 29,011 fans at the Carrier Dome.  The game was very much back and forth in the first half, as Syracuse struggled to obtain any momentum against the much smaller, but very quick Marquette man-to-man defense.  At one point, the Golden Eagles even led the Orange by 7 and were pushing for more, as Marquette six man Darius Johnson-Odom came off the bench and played 32 minutes and made 3 of 6 from downtown to keep the Orange trailing in the first half.  However, the Orange ended the first half strong, as they went on a 7-0 run to bring the halftime score even at 34-34.   

      The momentum was definitely on the Syracuse side as they opened the second half, as the Orange quickly opened up a lead that they would never give up.  Nonetheless, the Golden Eagles were very successful in completely shutting down Syracuse Senior Guard Andy Rautins, as Rautins was goose egg'd in this one, going 0 for 2 from the field in 36 minutes of play.  The Iowa State transfer Wesley Johnson once again stepped up to the plate and homered, as he scored 22 points in 40 minutes of play, while most importantly pulling down 15 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block.  Johnson was the most steady force for The Orange, as his clutch rebounds and scores propelled the Orange to a 16 point lead in the second half.  Kris Joseph also played long and strong, as his drives to the bucket led to scores that kept The Cuse lead growing.  Joseph came off the bench to score 14 points and rip down 11 rebounds in 33 minutes.  Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson also showed their size and strength, as they each added 12 points and very much proved their size was too much for the undersized Golden Eagles to handle. 

          With only minutes to play, a few people even started heading for the doors as they assumed the game was well in hand for the Orange, however, this game was far from over.  Boeheim's typical means of allowing the other team to get back in the contest was evident this game, as with 4 minutes remaining in the game the Syracuse guards started to milk the clock and totally took their foot off the pedal.  Marquette responded with some clutch steals and 3 point shooting at this point, as Marquette Guard Maurice Acker shot lights out to go 4 of 5 from three point land, slicing the Syracuse lead down to 6 with less than 2 minutes to play.  40% three point shooting from Marquette was what held them in the game, as the Syracuse lead should have stayed at double digits since The Cuse shot a phenomenal 58% from the field....wow.  Nevertheless, The Orange shot horribly from 3, as they shot 12% and only made one 3 pointer all game, while Marquette made 10 from downtown.  Foul shooting will certainly come into play as the Big East schedule heats up, and that is certainly a week spot for The Orange, however, they were able to shoot 68% from the line to close out the game and have all the SU fans breathe a sigh of relief.  The 3 point shooting and scoring of Rautins will need to return tomorrow night against the Syracuse arch rival Georgetown Hoyas if The Orange wish to continue their winning ways.