Syracuse Orange squeak past Florida Gators 72-68: NCAA Basketball Recap
College Basketball powerhouses, Syracuse Orange, are going through one of the most troubled passages in their history.
With assistant head Coach Bernie Fine’s fired over the molestation saga just few days ago, and head coach Jim Boeheim still siding with him instead of the victims, it seems that chaos has found a new home.
However, the Orange players are driving inspiration from adversity and are not letting the controversy affect their game one bit. Displaying the mental strength of champions, the Oranges collected their 8th consecutive
win, beating Florida Gators 72-68.
Although it was not as convincing a win as compared to Orange’s previous wins in the tournament, the composure and the skills displayed were still the same.
Brandon Triche was the most outstanding player with 20 points on 9 for 9 from the charity stripe. Scoop Jardine was also phenomenal and putting up an all round show, he pounded 16 points, forced 4 rebounds and dished out 7 assists.
Kris Joseph with 14 was the other prominent player from the winning side.
Kenny Boynton marshalled the Gators with a game high 22 points. Erving Walker was aggressive and gathered 17 points on 5 for 9 from the downtown while Will Yeguete accumulated 10 points.
Orange struggled early from the long range and only managed to net 1 for 10 from the downtown in contrast to Gators 3 for 14. However, the half was exciting as neither team managed to dominate completely, and the pendulum kept
shifting throughout.
With three minutes remaining the scores were levelled at 25, but a 6-0 spurt got Orange ahead 31-25. Yeguete lifted a layup in the last minute to close the half at 31-27 in the favour of Orange.
An 8-3 early burst by Orange in the second half elevated them to a commanding position 30-39. However, it was answered with an equally good 11-2 Gators run, capped by Boynton’s three, which again brought both teams on level terms
at 41 all.
The scores got even thrice in the next few minutes as neither team managed to gain control of the game. With the game even poised at 49, Orange reeled off a crucial 13-4 run to again lift themselves into a dominating position.
Yeguete and Boynton tried hard from the other end to bring their team into the game with quick points however Triche and Jardine were unstoppable and kept Orange significantly ahead until the end.
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