Boeheim scores 29, Syracuse rallies to win
Orange rally from 20-point second-half deficit on home court
Buddy Boeheim scored a career-high 29 points with six 3-pointers and Syracuse rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to beat Notre Dame 75-67 on Saturday.
Trailing 55-35 with 16:49 left, Syracuse used a press to get back in the game and outscored the Fighting Irish 40-12 the rest of the way to win its third straight game and reinforce its NCAA Tournament resume.
“We had to get stops. We had to play better defense,” Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. “We thought we could get back in. We felt we had to press. We made a couple of steals, we sped them up a little bit and they got out of rhythm on offense.
“I just can’t believe we got the stops we got, that the press worked so well,” Boeheim added. “They weren’t just missing shots. We were not giving them shots. That’s hard to do against a team like Notre Dame. I’m still shocked by what this team did today.”
Buddy Boeheim made 10 of 19 from the field, including 6 of 10 from behind the arc that gave him 182 in his career, moving him into 10th place in Syracuse history. Twenty of his points came in the second half. Marek Dolezaj added 18 points and Quincy Guerrier grabbed 14 rebounds to go with nine points for the Orange (13-6, 7-5 Atlantic Coast Conference).
“My teammates did a great job finding me, just setting screens for me,” Buddy Boeheim said. “I got some really good looks and it felt good to finally see some go down. It’s a big win for us. We needed to win that. We never gave up. We just fought and stayed together. We know that we can play like that all the time.”
Notre Dame (9-11, 6-8) built a 19-point lead late in the first half before going into break ahead 46-32 after shooting 54.5 percent, including 7-for-14 from beyond the arc, But in the second half, the Irish fell off to 32 percent, made just 5 of 17 3-point tries and committed eight of their 10 turnovers.
Glens Falls High graduate Joseph Girard III had five points for Syracuse in 22 minutes.
Top 25 men
Gonzaga 106, San Deigo 69: Drew Timme scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half, Jalen Suggs added 17 points and top-ranked Gonzaga won its 26th straight game. Corey Kispert added 16 points to help Gonzaga (22-0, 13-0 West Coast) get its 14th straight victory against San Diego and 49th consecutive win at home.
Illinois 94, Minnesota 63: Ayo Dosunmu had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his second tripledouble of the season, Kofi Cockburn scored 22 points in 24 minutes, and No. 5 Illinois cruised past Minnesota for its seventh consecutive victory.
Duke 66, Virginia 65: Freshman Jaemyn Brakefield scored the goahead basket on a reverse layup with 1:58 left and Duke came up with a final-possession stop and upset No. 7 Virginia.
Alabama 82, Vanderbilt 78: Jaden Shackelford scored a season-high 27 points and No. 8 Alabama came from behind to beat Vanderbilt to move a step closer to a Southeastern Conference championship. The Crimson Tide (18-5, 13-1 SEC) moved within a win of clinching at least a share of its first regular-season title in 19 years.
Oklahoma 66, Iowa State 56:
Austin Reaves scored 20 points to lead No. 9 Oklahoma to a victory over Iowa State.
Villanova 68, Uconn 60: Collin Gillespie scored 20 points and Jeremiah Robinson-earl had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 10 Villanova.
West Virginia 84, Texas 82: Sean Mcneil and No. 13 West Virginia erased a 19-point deficit in the second half, then withstood a flurry of last-second misses to hold off No. 12 Texas.
Kansas 67, Texas Tech 61: Christian Braun hit a corner 3 with 24 seconds left, David Mccormack scored 17 points and No. 23 Kansas beat No. 15 Texas Tech.
Florida State 79, Pittsburgh 72: Raiquan Gray had 16 points and eight rebounds, and No. 16 Florida State beat Pittsburgh 79-72 on Saturday for its third straight win.
Arizona 81, USC 72: James Akinjo scored 20 points and Arizona was better on the boards, surprising No. 17 Southern California and ending the Pac-12-leading Trojans’ seven-game winning streak.
Kentucky 70, Tennessee 55: Isaiah Jackson scored 16 points and Kentucky matched a season high with its third straight win, using an early run to top No. 19 Tennessee.
Missouri 93, South Carolina 78: Dru Smith scored 17 and Mark Smith 13 as No. 20 Missouri snapped a threegame losing streak.
San Diego State 75, Fresno State 57: Jordan Schakel scored 14 points —
12 on 3-pointers in the first half — and No. 25 San Diego State beat Fresno State for its eighth straight victory.
Women’s top 25
Uconn 83, Xavier 32: Christyn Williams scored 22 points and No. 1 Connecticut breezed in its first visit to Xavier for its eighth straight win. Highscoring Paige Bueckers and Olivia Nelson-odoba each added 11 points for the Huskies (18-1, 15-0 Big East).
Maryland 94, Minnesota 62: Ashley Owusu scored 24 points and No. 9 Maryland completed a season sweep of Minnesota. Diamond Miller added 20 points with three steals for the Terrapins.
South Florida 78, Tulane 69: Bethy Mununga scored 17 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and No. 12 South Florida pulled away from Tulane.
Gonzaga 69, San Diego 47: Jill Townsend scored 16 points, Kayleigh Truong added 13 and No. 16 Gonzaga bounced back after its first loss in more than two months with a win over San Diego.
Creighton 83, Depaul 72: Emma Ronsiek scored 27 points, Temi Carda added 18 and eight assists and Creighton became the first unranked team to beat No. 19 Depaul this year.
West Virginia 81, TCU 78: Esmery Martinez scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and No. 19 West Virginia overcame a 38-point performance by Lauren Heard and held on to defeat TCU.
South Dakota State 69, North Dakota State 60: Tylee Irwin scored a career-high 31 points to help shorthanded No. 23 South Dakota State complete the road sweep of North Dakota State. Irwin passed the 1,000point milestone on a 3-pointer with 7:59 left in the fourth quarter.
Northwestern 67, Wisconsin 54: Sydney Wood and Lindsey Pulliam scored 14 points each and Northwestern snapped a two-game skid with a win over Wisconsin.
Missouri State 75, Bradley 62: Brice Calip scored 17 points, Abby Hipp had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 25 Missouri State beat Bradley for its 11th straight win.