Orange Roll Over St. John's

Head coach Jim Boeheim now holds the NCAA record for 20-Win seasons with 31 after the RV/RV Orange registered an 87-58 victory against St. Johns Tuesday night. Sophomore Jonny Flynn led the Orange offensive charge with 21 points and eight assists. Junior Eric Devendorf contributed 17 points to the Syracuse total, while also registering five assists. He went 6-for-12 in shooting, including going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Rick Jackson and junior Arinze Onuaku both finished 7-for-8 from the field. Jackson added a free throw for a total of 15 points and Onuaku closed out the game with 14. Onuaku began what would be a Syracuse-dominated game with a dunk almost a minute into the game. Junior Paul Harris put the Orange up, 4-0, with a successful trip to the foul line for two points after being fouled by Malik Boothe. The Red Storm answered with back-to-back three-pointers for a 6-4 lead, but it was short-lived as a Devendorf trey found its way home to give the game back to the Orange for good. Onuaku gave the Orange some breathing room with two more baskets for an 11-6 lead about five minutes in, but a field goal from Justin Burrell put St. John’s within three. It was the closest the Red Storm would come to challenging Syracuse for the remainder of the game. Flynn kept the early Syracuse charge going with two straight baskets to give SU a seven-point advantage. Jackson followed with a bucket of his own and Devendorf added another three for a 20-10 lead midway through the first period. Paris Horne put the SU’s lead back into single-digits after making one of two free throws, but five points from Flynn put the Orange back up by double-digits, 25-11, with 7:42 to play. Syracuse kept the baskets coming with four points each from Harris, Devendorf and Flynn over the final minutes of the first stanza to put the Orange up by 21, 39-18, at intermission. Flynn increased the Orange advantage to 25 a little more than two minutes into the second frame with two field goals. St. John’s then forced three turnovers with Sean Evans tallying four points and Paris Horne posting two to bring the score to 43-24. Despite a three-pointer from D.J. Kennedy, the Orange was back up by 21 courtesy of five points from Jackson with about 14-and-a-half to go. St. John’s made five trips to the foul line between 12:02 and 8:25, but six points from Onuaku and two points each from Flynn and junior Andy Rautins kept the Orange in firm control of the game, 66-41. The two teams went basket-for-basket with each other during the final five minutes. Jackson put home eight of his 15 points during that time period as the Orange lead creeped to 29, with a bucket from freshman Kris Joseph with one minute remaining. Quincy Roberts scored the Red Storm’s final five points and SU senior Jake Presutti sealed the deal for the Orange sinking a trifecta with three seconds to play. Syracuse was a solid 64.9 percent (37-of-57) from the field for the game. After shooting only 26.9 percent (7-of-26) in the first half, St. John’s improved to 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the second period to finish shooting .396. Horne led the Red Storm with 17 points, while Evans added 13 and Kennedy posted 11 and a team-leading eight rebounds. Syracuse has a few days off before returning to action against Cincinnati on March 1 at the Dome.