St. John’s Storms Past Syracuse 93-60

By Kevin Ryans SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse needed a victory to help its already disappointing non-conference record. A loss would leave the Orange with little to no margin for error if it has any dreams of playing in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

St. John’s though had its own issues coming into a battle with its former BIG EAST foe. The Red Storm had a 5-7 record with bad losses to Long Island University-Brooklyn and Delaware State earlier this season. It hoped that its recent success against SU would carry over into Wednesday night and maybe get them back on track.

It did.

St. John’s (6-7, 0-0) used two big runs in each half and crushed Syracuse (7-5, 0-0) 93-60 Wednesday night. In the first half, with the Orange and the Red Storm tied at 14, St. John’s went on a 12-0 run, which gave them a lead they would not relinquish. At the break, the Orange trailed the Red Storm 39-29.

In the second half, it looked as though Syracuse was going to claw its way back. DaJuan Coleman scored six straight points to get SU within a run away from taking back the lead. But then, things would get ugly for the ‘Cuse.

St. John’s took the momentum, seized in the first half, into the second frame. The Johnnies went on a 15-0 run and was up by 26 with just over seven minutes remaining. From there, the crowd would head to the exits and St. John’s would continue their party. The Red Storm added a series of dunks and three pointers while celebrating what would be its sixth victory of the season.

After the game Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim took responsibility for the team’s worst home loss in his tenure.

“I’m still responsible as I think we all well know,” Boeheim said. “For whatever happens out there its on the head coach. We did not execute our defense. We thought we knew what we were going to do. We didn’t do what we wanted to do on defense.”

The Orange players, though, felt they were just as responsible as coach was. They believed they let the coaches down with their lack of execution especially on the defensive end.

“At the end of the day it’s on your players to come out and play hard and do what they can best,” said SU Forward Andrew White III. “Right now the mindset is just go one game at a time. Just try to win, win the next game, win the following game and kind of see what you can get.”

“Everything is on us,”Orange Sophomore Tyler Lydon said. “(Coach Boeheim) told us exactly what was going to be happening. We just weren’t able to execute. I just think we weren’t paying too much attention to detail.”

John Gillon did offer a positive spin on the 33-point loss. The Graduate guard feels this offers the Orange to begin with a clean slate.

“I feel like we will go up from here,” Gillon said. “We’ll try to start a new season in conference play and just try to stay positive even though it is tough in a time like this.”

The 93-60 defeat marks the first time Syracuse has lost five non-conference games in Boeheim’s 41-year tenure as head coach. The Orange looks to end non-conference play on a high note when it takes on Cornell, Tuesday, December 27.