SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse Orange basketball team stopped the bleeding on its recent four-game slide, handling Notre Dame 86-72 inside the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday. A hot shooting night propelled Syracuse as the Orange shot 32-56 from the floor (57%) and 10-25 from three (40%).
Syracuse (13-9, 4-5) was led by a career-high 28 points from Nate Kingz. JJ Starling, who made his first six shots against his former team, finished with 21 points and 5 assists. William Kyle finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Notre Dame (11-11, 2-7) was led by Jalen Haralson, who scored 26 points. Braeden Shrewsberry added 17.
Donnie Freeman came off the bench for just the third time in his Syracuse career. Sadiq White started in his place.
Syracuse led 10-8 at the first media timeout behind two inside buckets from Kyle and White as well as a pair of threes from Starling and Kingz. Freeman was the first substitution off the bench for Autry at the 12:02 mark.
The Orange would go on an 11-0 run on three straight threes — one from Kingz and two from Starling — and a pair of free throws from Kiyan Anthony. Syracuse broke a 12-all tie to go up 21-12.
Tyler Betsey and Anthony checked in at the 9:53 mark. After both teams traded scores, Betsey made his first three of the game to give Syracuse a 28-16 lead.
Freeman earned his first score of the game on a driving layup, but picked up his second foul at the 5:28 mark. Kyle came into replace him, along with Starling for George. Starling took over at point guard and Betsey went high-post as Notre Dame went 2-3 zone. Betsey immediately knocked down a mid-range jumpshot from the soft spot of the zone. Then Braeden Shrewsberry’s second three of the half cut Syracuse’s lead to ten. Jalen Haralson had the play of the half when he finished off a transition dunk with a poster finish over Kyle.
Kyle responded with a dunk off a lob from Kingz. Another Shrewberry three cut it to seven with a minute left in the first half. Starling countered with a mid-range on the baseline to work the lead to nine.
Syracuse led 40-31 at the half behind Starling’s 17 points to lead all scorers. Notre Dame was 4-12 from three in the first half while Syracuse was 6-12. Syracuse held a 15-12 rebounding edge.
Out of the break, Kingz bookended scores through the first four-minute stretch with a corner three and tough drive and finish. Notre Dame’s Haralson had two buckets in that time but Syracuse led 49-37 at the first media timeout. Freeman checked in for White thereafter.
After a broken play, Cole Certa nailed a three and fell to the ground. He had a visceral reaction, demanding the referee for a foul. The referee granted that wish but with a technical foul on Certa. Freeman took the technical free throws for Syracuse and made both. Then Kingz made another corner triple that put the Orange up 57-44. Micah Shrewsberry called timeout with 12:45 remaining.
Haralson, mirroring his first half effort, somehow had another poster dunk on Kyle. Betsey, who just checked into the game, answered on a corner three. Then Haralson had a three point play to make it 60-50. Starling checked in for George and took over at point guard.
Syracuse saw its lead vacillate between single- and double-digits through the next four minute stretch. The Orange got scores from Starling and Kingz as Haralson and Shrewsberry carried the offense for Notre Dame. White came back into the game for Kyle and Freeman slid down to the five with nine minutes left. Holding a 66-57 lead, Autry called time with 7:40 remaining.
Syracuse didn’t execute out of the timeout and instead had two turnovers — the second leading to a Certa three. Two possession game. That was as close as Notre Dame would trim the margin to.
Syracuse answered with a 9-0 run. Kingz bailed out Syracuse with a late three at the end of the shotclock to buoy the lead back to nine. White and Freeman would make four free throws and White finished off a transition layup to put Syracuse up 75-60. Micah Shrewsberry called timeout.
Notre Dame would then trim Syracuse’s 15 point lead to nine with 2:30 to play, but would not seriously threaten. George found Kingz for a lob and dunk with 1:54 remaining. Kingz finished off the dunk and was fouled, completing the three point play to effectively put the game away. Scores by Kingz and Starling down the stretch allowed Bryce Zephir to enter competition for the second straight game, as well as Noah Lobdell.
Syracuse handled business on a night where the program honored the late Lawrence Moten, still the program’s all-time leading scorer. Moten passed away last summer at the age of 53.
Next up
Syracuse hits the road to take on North Carolina from the Dean Smith Center. That game tips at 7 pm ET and will air on ESPN as part of Big Monday.
