Syracuse Beats St. Rose 80-49 in Exhibition

By Jonah Karp

SYRACUSE, N.Y.— Oshae Brissett, Buddy Boeheim, and Elijah Hughes combined for 60 points for Syracuse in Thursday night’s 80-50 victory over St. Rose.

“I thought overall we did a lot of good things,” Head Coach Jim Boeheim said following the win. “I think they were a very good team for us to play. They moved it really well on offense. They made us play defense. I think it was a very good game for us.”

Hughes scored five of the first six points for Syracuse including an emphatic two-handed transition slam that put the Cuse on the board, followed by a straightaway triple.

“I just felt like I was just playing basketball now,” Hughes said. “I’ve been doing this my whole life.”

The Orange started cold from downtown, beginning 1-6 from behind the arc. The slow shooting start allowed the Golden Knights to cut the lead to 19-16, but that’s as close as they would get. SU erupted, going on a 10-2 run, while starting to heat up from three-point range.

Boeheim finished the half with two three-balls, including a dagger at the buzzer to send the team to the locker room with a 39-24 lead at halftime.

But that was just the beginning. Boeheim picked up where he left off in the second half, scoring the first seven points for Syracuse.

“He just got hot in three seconds,” Brissett said about the freshman. “That’s what we want him to do. We knew he could do that.”

Brissett led all scorers with 22 points while Boeheim and Hughes each tallied 19. Brissett also led all players with 14 rebounds. Despit leading the team with six assists, Tyus Battle finished with just 7 points on 1-10 shooting.

Frank Howard, Jalen Carey and Howard Washington all sat out with injuries. Thirteen different players saw action on the court for SU.

Syracuse plays its second and final exhibition game on Wednesday October 31 against Le Moyne in the Carrier Dome. The first regular season game is at home on Tuesday November 6 against Eastern Washington.