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Orange ease Boeheim’s worries

Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim (left) talks with his players during a timeout in the second half of Monday’s game against Notre Dame in Syracuse, N.Y. Boeheim was able to breathe a sigh of relief after Syracuse won 63-47. “When you lose two games in a row in this league, you get nervous,” Boeheim said.
Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim (left) talks with his players during a timeout in the second half of Monday’s game against Notre Dame in Syracuse, N.Y. Boeheim was able to breathe a sigh of relief after Syracuse won 63-47. “When you lose two games in a row in this league, you get nervous,” Boeheim said.

— Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim is just like any coach - lose a couple of conference games and it’s time to start worrying.

But there’s no need anymore.

C.J. Fair had 18 points and 10 rebounds, freshman Jerami Grant scored a season-high 14 points, and No. 9 Syracuse beat No. 25 Notre Dame 63-47 on Monday night to snap a two-game losing streak that had dropped the Orange three spots in the rankings.

“This was a big win,” Boeheim said. “Obviously, Notre Dame beat us last year. When you lose two games in a row in this league, you get nervous.Everybody does. This is a real good bounce-back win.”

Syracuse (19-3, 7-2 Big East), which was coming off consecutive road losses against Villanova and Pittsburgh, has only three conference losses in its last 32 Big East games and has won a school-record 36 consecutive games at home, the longest active streak in Division I. Notre Dame (18-5, 6-4) had won three consecutive.

It was the first meeting between the teams since the Irish handed Syracuse its only conference loss last season, 67-58 at Purcell Pavilion last January. The Orange, unbeaten at the time and ranked No. 1, were missing shot-blocking, 7-foot center Fab Melo in that game because of an academic issue, and Monday night, senior James Southerland, the team’s most consistent outside threat and third-leading scorer, missed his sixth consecutive game because of an eligibility matter related to academics.

Gone, too, from the Orange lineup was 6-9, 288-pound freshman forward Dajuan Coleman, out for a month after knee surgery.

On this night, it didn’t matter as the Syracuse defense clamped down behind its front line of Fair, Jerami Grant and Rakeem Christmas, who had a combined 44 points, 6 blocks, and 21 rebounds. They also teamed to help limit the touches of Notre Dame big man Jack Cooley in the middle and the Orange’s perimeter defenders held their own against the Irish sharpshooters.

The 6-9, 246-pound Cooley, a major force as the Irish out rebounded the Orange by 13 in last year’s game, finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Notre Dame finished 6 of 20 on three-pointers, shot 34.6 percent (18 of 52) for the game, and was out rebounded 32-28. The Irish also matched their season low for points. They also were held to 47 in a home loss two weeks ago to Georgetown.

“We’ve got to make some more of those shots to escape here,” Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey said. “When we’ve had success against them, we’ve made more threes. But that’s not necessarily us missing. They have such length because their guards are so big this year. They come out and close out. It’s a rough shot.

“We fought, we battled, we tried. But we needed to get into a better scoring rhythm. It was hard against them tonight because of the way they defended.”

Christmas had 12 points and four blocks and Michael Carter-Williams had 5 points, 8 assists and 3 steals for Syracuse.

Jerian Grant, Jerami’s brother, finished with 15 points to lead the Irish. The game was the first in college between the Grant brothers and was just the second start for Jerami, who was 6 for 8 from the floor and made both free throws he attempted in playing every minute in place of Southerland.

“Teams really don’t know what I can do because I haven’t been playing a lot,” said Jerami, who made two midrange jumpers in the first four minutes. “He [Jerian] definitely should know what to expect, but I’ve been working hard since I’ve been here. He hasn’t really seen me play.

“I got a lot of confidence out there with my first two shots. I felt like I played off that energy.”

The Irish fell behind 41-28 midway through the second half as the Orange put together a 13-4 spurt spanning halftime to assume control.

NO. 23 PITTSBURGH 56, SETON HALL 46

PITTSBURGH - Lamar Patterson scored 12 points and Pittsburgh pulled away late from Seton Hall.

Freshman center Steven Adams added 8 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks for the Panthers (19-5, 7-4 Big East), who won for the sixth time in their past seven games by simply surviving on a night they struggled to get into any sort of rhythm.

Cameron Wright scored six of his eight points during a game-ending 18-8 surge that prevented Pitt from suffering a letdown following an emotional victory over Syracuse on Saturday.

Fuquan Edwin led the Pirates (13-10,2-8) with 23 points but was slowed after injuring his right ankle midway through the second half. Seton Hall shot just 33 percent (14 of 42) from the field and made just two baskets over the final 10 minutes.

TOP 25/SEC WOMEN NO. 14 TEXAS A&M 74, LSU 57

BATON ROUGE - Kelsey Bone scored 21 points as No. 14 Texas A&M won its sixth consecutive game, defeating LSU.

Courtney Walker added 16 points and Kristi Bellock had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Aggies (18-5, 8-1 SEC).

With Texas A&M leading 61-56, Walker’s jumper started a 10-0 run. Bellock followed with a jumper and Walker a layup, then Bone and Walker added layups for a 71-56 lead with 1:21 left.

The Lady Tigers (13-9, 4-5) fell behind 7-0 in the opening three minutes and never led, although they cut a 32-21 deficit to 32-27 in the final two minutes before halftime.

Bone, the SEC’s field goal percentage leader at 59.8 percent, made 9 of 15 (60 percent) and Walker 8 of 10.

Adrienne Webb scored 17 points for LSU, Danielle Ballard 12 and Theresa Plaisance, the conference scoring leader at 18.2 points per game, had 11.

SWAC MEN ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 76, ALABAMA A&M 67

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Lazabian Jackson’s three-point shooting led Arkansas-Pine Bluff to another road victory Monday.

Jackson, a senior guard, made 5 of 8 three-pointers and finished with a game high 20 points to help the Golden Lions to their second consecutive victory, and their sixth in the past seven games.

Jackson tied his season-high Monday two nights after also scoring 20, making six three-pointers, in a victory at Alabama State.

UAPB (10-13, 9-2) never trailed against Alabama A&M (8-14, 4-7 SWAC), which has lost five of its last six games.

UAPB led 18-8 less than seven minutes into the game, 34-17 with 2:46 left in the first half and 36-23 at halftime.

The Golden Lions stretch their lead to 59-29 with 11:32 left before the Bulldogs’ late rally.

Terrell Kennedy added 17 points for UAPB, Davon Haynes had 16 points and eight rebounds and Marcel Mosley had 10 points. UAPB shot 53.8 percent from the floor (28 of 52) and made 7 of 14 three-pointers.

Jeremy Crutcher led Alabama A&M with 21 points, Demarquelle Tabb added 16 points and 10 rebounds and Justan Banks had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

SWAC WOMEN ALABAMA A&M 59, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 48

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Arkansas-Pine Bluff shot 26.3 percent in the first half to fall into an 11-point halftime deficit while losing its fourth consecutive game.

The Lady Lions made 5 of 19 shots in the first half to fall behind 26-14 with 1:42 left and 29-18 at halftime. Their deficit grew to 53-33 with 6:13 left in the game.

Christina Lasane led UAPB (8-13, 3-7) with 19 points on 6 of 15 shooting and she made 6 of 10 free throws. Chi Chi Okwumbua added 14 points, but no other UAPB player had more than Lakendra Marsh’s seven points. Marsh was 2 of 13 from the floor and was 1 of 6 on three-point attempts.

Jasmine Sanders led Alabama A&M (7-14, 6-5) with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and the Lady Bulldogs out rebounded the Lady Lions 44-18. Sixteen of Alabama A&M’s rebounds were offensive.

Brittney Strickland and Shundray Davis each added 10 points for Alabama A&M, which committed 26 turnovers.

UAPB’s four consecutive losses have dropped it into a tie for eighth place in the SWAC with Grambling State.

Sports, Pages 23 on 02/05/2013

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