Syracuse Survives A Hawk Attack

The Syracuse Orange men's basketball squad (3-0) reentered the Dome after winning their first road contest of the season 80-50 over the Drexel Dragons to face the Monmouth Hawks (1-2) who were coming off of their second loss in a row this season, which came on the road against the Seton Hall Pirates.

Syracuse would start things off with a swat by sophomore forward Donnie Freeman.

Around the 14-minute mark, Monmouth would take their first lead of the night, ahead 10-9 on a jumper by redshirt-junior guard Andrew Ball.

However, a three by junior guard Naithan George took the lead right back for the Orange on the following possession, with Syracuse up 12-10.

Sophomore guard Justin Ray connected on a three right after to put the Hawks ahead 13-12 and two possessions later the lead was back with the Orange on a dunk by true freshman forward Sadiq White, Jr.

In total, there were 10 lead changes and four ties in the first half.

The final lead change of the first half went to Syracuse when redshirt-senior guard Nate Kingz scored on a layup that made it 27-26 at the 4:06 mark.

The Orange led 36-33 at the break, following a three by Ball that made it a one-possession game.

Monmouth came out and tied the game on their first possession of the second half when Ray knocked down a shot from deep to make it 36-apiece.

Ray would hit another three shortly after to tie the game once again, at 39-39.

With 2:26 remaining in the game a foul by Freeman gave the Orange 10 fouls in the second half, resulting in the double-bonus for the Hawks.

Ball would go 1-for-2 to bring the score to a 10-point deficit for Monmouth, down 73-63.

Senior forward William Kyle, III, would go for the ball in what looked like a jump-ball situation with junior guard Jason Rivera-Torres, but instead was called for a foul, sending Rivera-Torres to the charity stripe where he would make both freebies to get the score to 73-65 Syracuse.

A jumper by senior guard Jack Collins at the 1:25 mark shrunk Syracuse's lead to six, 73-67.

Orange senior guard J.J. Starling would go 1-for-2 at the line and Rivera-Torres would attack the baseline on the other end followed by a steal by Ball picking the pocket of Kyle and Collins scoring off of the turnover to place the Hawks within two, 74-72, with 34.7 seconds remaining.

With 25.8 seconds to go in the game, Freeman would head to the line, knocking down both free throws to roll the Orange ahead by four, 76-72.

Graduate guard Bryce Zephir would miss both of his free-throw attempts with under 11 seconds to play.

After a three-point attempt by Rivera-Torres went to the right of the rim, Freeman would be fouled with 00.3 seconds remaining and he would make both, securing Syracuse's fourth win of the season in four games, by a score of 78-73.

Freeman ended the game with 18, followed by Kingz with 15, George with 12, and Starling with 11.

Ray led both teams overall with 25 points, followed by freshman forward Stefanos Spartalis with 18 and Collins with 11.

Syracuse improves to 4-0, while Monmouth loses their third-straight, moving to 1-3 early in the 2025-26 season.