Syracuse Slams Down the "W", Starting 3-1 in ACC

On a cold but clear night in Central New York, the Syracuse Orange men's basketball squad had a visitor from the Sunshine State in the Florida State Seminoles.

Florida State took the first lead of the night, 2-0, on a layup by senior guard Robert McCray V.

Syracuse's first lead came on their first possession that followed, when redshirt-senior guard Nate Kingz connected from long range, bringing the score to 3-2 Syracuse.

The Seminoles would get out to an 11-3 advantage before junior guard Naithan George knocked down a three from the left wing to make it 11-6 Seminoles.

From there, the Orange would go on an 8-4 run to get within one, down 15-14.

At the 11:23 mark of the first half, true freshman guard Kiyan Anthony would go from end to the other by himself, laying it in to make it 23-22 Florida State.

Less than three minutes later, around the 8:46 mark, Anthony went inside again, this time amidst multiple defenders, and tied the game at the rim at 26-apiece.

But senior guard Lajae Jones would take the lead right back for the Seminoles on a layup of his own, putting the Seminoles ahead 28-26.

Sophomore forward Tyler Betsey would nail a three from the left corner to get the Orange within one, down 36-35. Then, senior forward William Kyle, III, would then steal the ball from sophomore forward Alier Maluk and senior guard J.J. Starling would finish at the rim to roll the Orange ahead 37-36.

Betsey would secure a call from long distance and Syracuse had a 40-36 lead.

At the break, the Orange led 43-40.

There was one tie and three lead changes in the first 20 minutes of play.

With 16:38 left in the game, George's three-pointer gave Syracuse the largest lead of the game at the time by either team, ahead 10, 57-47.

Florida State would follow by going on a 7-0 run in just 1:25 to come within one score, down 57-54.

The game was tied at 61-all when Seminoles' sophomore guard Martin Somerville connected on his deep shot at the 13:36 mark.

Florida State would take the lead from Syracuse as a result of a jumper from Jones that made it 65-64 Florida State with 11:23 to go.

The Orange would regain the lead at the 10:01 mark on a layup by true freshman forward Sadiq White, Jr., and lose it on the next possession on a pull-up jumper by McCray.

Betsey's sixth three-pointer of the night would get the lead back for Syracuse at 71-68. This three would bring Betsey to 6-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

Orange sophomore forward Donnie Freeman would be called for a technical foul with 7:42 remaining.

Seminoles' senior guard Kobe Magee shot the two technical foul free throws, making both.

Somerville would follow with making both shots that came from the foul called on Freeman before the technical and these four total free throws took the game from 76-69 to 76-73 Syracuse.

Freeman would respond with an old-fashioned three-point play that gave the Orange an 82-75 lead.

A turnaround jumper by Freeman advanced Syracuse back out to a seven-point lead at 84-77.

A foul by senior forward Alex Steen with 4:35 remaining would give Florida State 10 team fouls, putting Syracuse on the line for two shots for the remainder of the game. Freeman went 2-for-2 on this foul by Steen, bringing the score to 86-79 Orange.

With Syracuse on offense, Kyle was called for a foul which gave the Orange 10 team fouls, placing the Seminoles at the line for two shots from the 2:06 mark on. McCray went 1-for-2 to get Florida State within six, down 88-82.

Immediately after, Freeman got the offensive rebound and putback plus the foul at the 1:40 mark, but missed the freebie, making it 90-82 Syracuse.

McCray went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe and Somerville went 2-for-2 to bring the score to 90-86.

The Orange would respond with back-to-back dunks by Kyle then Starling and Betsey swatted away the final shot by the Seminoles en route to a 94-86 win by the Orange.

With the win, Syracuse improved to 12-5 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Florida State moved to 7-10 and still winless in the ACC at 0-4.

Syracuse was led by Freeman who had 25 points to go with seven rebounds, three steals, two assists, one block, and two turnovers. Betsey had 18 points and Starling ended the contest with 13 points.

For the Seminoles, Magee finished with 20 points, followed by Somerville with 16, McCray with 14, and Jones with 11.