Orange escape with 74-72 win over Colgate, move to 2-0

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team (2-0) survived another scare in the early season, but ultimately defeated the Colgate Raiders (1-2) by a final score of 74-72 in the 176th all time meeting between the two programs.

Eddie Lampkin had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Chris Bell and JJ Starling scored 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Syracuse was intent to defend from the opening tip and jumped out to a 9-4 lead behind two buckets from JJ Starling but Colgate quickly tied things up 11-11 by the first media timeout. Adrian Autry went with Elijah Moore and Jyare Davis as the first two substitutions off the bench and shortly after Colgate’s Jeff Woodward picked up his second foul at the 12:26 mark.

Back to back buckets from Jyare Davis — a putback and a three-pointer — put Syracuse back into the lead 19-16. Lucas Taylor and Petar Majostorovic checked in at the 9:40 mark. The freshman Moore had a nice stretch where he connected on two straight mid-range jumpers, followed by a Majstorovic corner three that gave Syracuse a 26-19 lead. Kyle Cuffe checked in and rounded out the ten man rotation in the first half.

Depsite the two first half fouls, Colgate’s Woodward checked back in with just under seven minutes and Syracuse extended its lead to eight after a Lampkin slam on a feed from Davis. Then, back-to-back Colgate threes trimmed Syracuse’s lead to two with four minutes left in the half. Taylor responded from deep to put the Orange up 36-30 but Colgate answered with a three by Chandler Baker. Freeman missed a three before the halftime buzzer and Syracuse went into the break with a 36-33 lead.

The Raiders had 11 fastbreak points to Syracuse’s zero while the Orange held a 25-17 rebounding edge.

Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

Out of the break, Syracuse went by threes. First, Bell cut backdoor for a dunk off a feed from Lampkin and completed a three point play. Then Starling hit a triple, followed by Lampkin, who stepping out and connected on his first college three. Lampkin then scored inside to give Syracuse an 11-point lead, forcing Matt Langel to call timeout.

Although Syracuse looked ready to put the game away, Colgate answered right back with a 7-0 run to cut the Syracuse lead to five with 12:50 remaining. A Moore jumper at the end of the shotclock ended the Raider run, but another three Baker followed by a Cooper Wright putback trimmed the Orange lead to 57-55.

Next, Bell connected on a pair of jumpers — one inside the arc and a three from the corner — to give Syracuse a 64-58 lead with 7:56 to play. But Colgate would respond each time to Syracuse’s runs, as back-to-back layups by Jalen Cox had the Orange clinging to a two point lead at the under four minute media timeout.

Down the stretch it was Starling, briefly playing point guard with Jaquan Carlos on the bench, who kissed home a floater to cushion the lead, followed by a Bell layup to put Syracuse up five late. But Colgate’s Nicolas Louis-Jacques scored on a layup and on the next play fouled out Starling in the process. Autry went with the freshman Moore to replace Starling.

Next, Woodward tied the game at 72 with a bucket inside but Lampkin answered back to put Syracuse back up two with 42 seconds left. A Louis-Jacques three-point attempt was missed and Davis was fouled with 20.8 seconds left. The Delaware transfer missed on the front end, but grabbed a crucial rebound with six seconds left after a Colgate miss which put Davis back on the line.

Davis missed again, but Taylor grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled with five seconds left. Taylor missed and Colgate had one last chance to tie or take the lead, but fumbled the ball late out of bounds without getting a shot attempt off. For the second time in as many games, Syracuse survived another scare at home.