Orange Squeezed By Louisville

#12 Louisville (15-3, 6-0) held off #8 Syracuse’s (17-4, 5-3) second-half rally for a 67-57 victory in front of 25,721 fans in the Carrier Dome, the second-largest crowd of the season. Junior Eric Devendorf had a game-high 20 points for the Orange. Sophomore Jonny Flynn and junior Arinze Onuaku posted 12 and 11 points, respectively. Onuaku and sophomore Rick Jackson pulled down nine boards apiece and accounted for five of SU’s seven blocks. Andy Rautins injured his ankle with seven minutes remaining in the game. He was helped from the court and did not return. Reportedly, Rautins was seen after the game on crutches. Officially, Syracuse says Rautins has a sprained ankle and they hope to know more on Monday. Trailing by five at the intermission, 38-33, the Orange opened the second half with a 9-2 run to grab its first lead of the game, 42-40. Onuaku opened the stretch for SU with a layup and junior Eric Devendorf nailed a three-pointer less than a minute later. Flynn added four more points to give the Orange its first lead of the game. Cardinal Earl Clark tied it up, 42-42, and a dunk by Samardo Samuels gave Louisville the lead again, 44-42. Syracuse answered with a layup from Onuaku and two good free throws byDevendorf, putting the advantage back into SU’s hands with 12:33 to play, 45-44. From there, Louisville went on a 10-2 run to move ahead. 54-48. A Devendorf jumper and free throws from Flynn cut off the Cardinals and narrowed it to 54-52 with 6:21 remaining.. Neither team scored a basket for the next three minutes, until Devendorf nailed a trifecta with 3:03 on the clock to give Syracuse its final advantage, 55-54. The Syracuse defense stopped a Louisville attempt but the Cardinals grabbed the rebound and Earl Clark took advantage with a three-ball to grab the lead for good. Louisville was three-for-three from the field (including Clarks three) and six-of-six from the line in the final 2:14 of play. The victory improved Louisvilles series advantage to 9-4 and gave the Cardinals the programs first Carrier Dome win against the Orange. Neither club excelled from the field as Syracuse was 18-of-51 (.353) and Louisville 26-of-69 (.377). The Cardinals took advantage of the misses with 21 offensive rebounds, the most yielded by the Orange this season. Louisville jumped out to an early, 14-6 lead in the first half. A three-pointer from junior Andy Rautins and a jumper from Flynn brought the Orange within three, 14-11. The Cardinals produced a 9-3 run on two layups from Terrence Jennings, a three-ball from Terrence Williams and Clarks layin, It gave the visitors their biggest margin of the opening period, 30-20. Down by 10, the Orange held the Cardinals scoreless for the next four minutes. Flynn converted a layup and two free throws and Devendorf made two from the line to pull Syracuse within four with a little over four minutes until halftime. Three points each from Terrence Jennings and Edgar Sosa put the Cardinals up by eight, 36-28, but five points from Devendorf brought the Orange within five at the buzzer, 38-33. Clark led the Cardinals with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and a game-high five assists. Williams contributed 15 points and five steals, while Sosa rounded out the top Cardinal scorers with 13 points. Syracuse heads to out on the road for a Wednesday night matchup with BIG EAST foe Providence on January 28. The clubs next home game is against West Virginia at the Dome on Wednesday, February 4.