Highlights & Recap: Syracuse Tops Cornell

The Orange men's basketball team won its fifth straight game.

Syracuse men’s basketball has now won five straight games after a 78-63 win over Cornell. For most of the first half, however, it did not look like it was the Orange's day.

Cornell dominated most the first half, coming onto the court with a fast-paced and accurate offense. Syracuse was unable to rebound or stop Cornell’s three point shots, which gave Cornell the lead for the majority of the 1st half.

The Orange picked it up before halftime with Joe Girard making the biggest impact. He had 15 points in the 1st half and had three made shots from beyond the arc. After an incredibly slow start for Syracuse's offense, the Orange were able to make adjustments and went into halftime tied.

Chris Bell gave Syracuse their first lead of the game in the beginning of the second half and the Orange took off from there. Coach Jim Boeheim said that it was Girard’s 1st half that kept them in the game, but it was the missed three’s from Cornell that allowed them to get the lucky win.

The Orange went on a 21-5 run in nine minutes in the second half because of those missed shots from Cornell. In the first half Cornell was shooting 45% in the paint. In the 2nd half, they shot 24%. Majority of those points that Cornell scored were in the second chance points that Syracuse allowed with their lack of rebounding. Cornell had 12 second chance points in the 1st half, but only seven in the 2nd.

Defensively, Bell also shined with five rebounds alongside Benny Williams. The Orange increased their rebounds from 15 in the 1st half to 24 in the 2nd, making the difference in stopping those second chance points.

With Jesse Edwards being sick towards the end of this week according to Coach Jim Boeheim, Edwards took a little while to get going. Edwards came back from a bloody nose in the second half and finished with 12 rebounds and 11 points.

Syracuse plays again at the Dome on Tuesday, December 20th against Pittsburgh at 9 p.m. 

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