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No. 5 Syracuse Concludes Three-Game Road Swing At Notre Dame
South Bend, IN (Sports Network) - Wesley Johnson totaled 22 points and eight rebounds, helping No. 5 Syracuse escape the Joyce Center with an 84-71 victory over Notre Dame in a Big East showdown.
The Orange (18-1, 5-1 Big East) improved to 7-0 away from the Carrier Dome this season, which includes a 4-0 mark in Big East road games.
Andy Rautins scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half and Arinze Onuaku chipped in 13 points and seven boards in Syracuse's fifth straight win.
Luke Harangody checked in with 31 points and 14 rebounds, while Tim Abromaitis hit five three-pointers en route to a 26-point effort for the Fighting Irish (14-5, 3-3), which was coming off a tough 60-58 setback at Cincinnati.
Notre Dame has now dropped three of its last five.
Abromaitis solved the Syracuse zone with a pair of three-pointers to cut the deficit to 67-62 with 3:19 left in regulation, but the Irish failed to secure a rebound on consecutive missed free throws at the other end.
Johnson made the first and missed the second at the foul line, and Kris Joseph muscled away the offensive rebound on the latter to extend the possession.
Onuaku was then fouled as he threw down a dunk, and Joseph pulled down another carom that led to Johnson’s jumper for a 72-62 cushion with under two minutes to play.
The Orange went 6-for-6 from the foul line the rest of the way, improving their effort from the stripe to 24-of-31 for the game.
It was essentially a three-point shooting contest in the early stages of the game, with Syracuse coming out on the better end thanks to Rautins, who nailed a trey for a 21-14 lead 8 1/2 minutes in.
The Irish battled back to tie it, 23-23, on an Abromaitis three-ball with just over seven minutes left, but Rautins’ fifth make from behind the arc capped a 9-0 run a little later for a 39-28 Orange lead.
The margin was 39-32 at the break, and Syracuse continued to play front-runner throughout the second half, as two Brandon Triche free throws five minutes in yielded the largest lead, 52-41.
Notre Dame inched closer over the next five minutes and was down 55-51 when Tory Jackson was awarded two at the foul line after catching an errant Rautins elbow in the face.
Jackson air-balled a potential tying deuce after making both technical free throws with 9:47 left, and Syracuse scored the next six points -- four via the free throw line -- to get some breathing room.
Notre Dame fell to 12-2 at home and now trails 23-18 in the all-time series against the Orange...Joseph and Triche each netted eight points for the Orange, who made 49.1 percent from the floor...Jackson handed out 15 assists but went 0-for-7 from the field and ended with just two points.
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