65 - 60 A gutty performance from junior sharpshooter propels Orange.
Sophomore forward B.J. Johnson scored a game-high 19 points, but it was Trevor Cooney's late-game heroics that helped the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team earn a road upset, 65-60, over the No. 9-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a Atlantic Coast Conference contest at Purcell Pavilion.
Cooney, who gutted through a back injury all game, netted seven of his 11 points in the final 4:16 of regulation to help the Orange (18-10, 9-6 ACC) hold off the Fighting Irish (24-5, 12-4), who tried their best to pull off a come-from-behind victory but the junior sharpshooter wouldn't let them.
Ahead 49-45 with a little under five minutes to play, Cooney made a nearly impossible corner jumper that pushed SU's lead to six. Then, after the Irish cut the lead to three points with 2:45, he made consecutive baskets–a long, straight-away 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down and a tough layup–to push the Orange's lead to 56-49 with 1:44 remaining.
From there, Syracuse made seven of its final nine free-throw attempts to hold off Notre Dame, who could never quite find the bottom of the net consistently shooting 34.7% from the floor overall and just 13.6% from the behind the 3-point line.
Senior center Rakeem Christmas, who committed his fifth foul and left the game with 5:18 to go, ended the game with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Junior swingman Michael Gbinije added 12 points, six steals and four assists.
More from this game will game, until there celebrate the solid victory Orange fans!
