The Golden Knights battle with the Orange for most of the game, but fall short in the second half
By MICHAEL SMITH
Staff Writer
PUBLISHED November 10, 2011
The men’s basketball team took on the Syracuse Orange Tuesday at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
It was a well fought match by both sides, though Syracuse had the clear advantage in talent, Saint Rose definitely came expecting to play well and they did.
It was an exhibition game, so it will not count towards the records of either team. Despite this fact, both teams went with their expected starting line-ups.
The game started off fast as Saint Rose jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first minute of the game. But it didn’t last as Syracuse went on a 19-2 run over the next 6:30. In that 6:30, Syracuse’s size played an integral part in the game, the team had five blocks, two coming from sophomore center Fab Melo. Syracuse’s defense wasn’t limited to blocks, they also played fast defense, stealing the ball 3 times in a 37 second span.
It seemed like Syracuse’s size and talent was starting to overwhelm Saint Rose, but the Golden Knights did not allow them to really pull away. They started to stretch out Syracuse and take more mid-range and long-range shots. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim acknowledged that his team had a problem when Saint Rose started making this adjustment.
“I thought we got off to a good start, but then we left them open for a few shots that they made and we lost some of our defensive aggressiveness. They took good shots and knocked them down,” Boeheim said.
A big part of Saint Rose’s first half comeback was sophomore Dominykas Milka who had 8 points in helping Saint Rose strike a comeback. Saint Rose did a good job of moving the ball and working for good shots, and junior Andre Pope closed out the half by sinking a three-pointer just before the buzzer to tie the game at 30.
The Golden Knights came out strong again in the second half working up to a 3 point lead. However, Syracuse started to get hot and Saint Rose started to hurt themselves with turnovers. Saint Rose finished with twenty-seven turnovers, eleven more than the Orange.
“I know they had a little trouble when we got a few steals in the second half. We definitely picked it up and just played a lot harder, we got deflections and steals and it gave us easy baskets,” said Syracuse freshman Michael Carter-Williams.
Carter-Williams said that the defensive effort was important in leading to the scoring outburst. “As soon as we got steals we got open shots, everyone got confident, confident in their shots, so did I,” Carter-Williams.
The Orange almost doubled their first half scoring output, putting 57 points on the board in the second half, giving them the victory over Saint Rose, 87-69.
Fifth-year senior and Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine, who is expected to be an important leader on this team, was held in check all night by the Saint Rose defense. He only scored 7 points, shooting 3-6 from the field, and he turned the ball over twice.
Saint Rose has a rough opening weekend ahead with the hosting of the Saint Rose Tip-Off Tournament. The Golden Knights take on Concordia at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, and C.W. Post on Sunday at 4 p.m.
