Battle powers No. 16 Syracuse

Tyus Battle scored

23 points, Elijah Hughes had 21 and No. 16 Syracuse beat Morehead State 84-70 on Saturday night in Syracuse, N.Y.

Oshae Brissett added

17 points and 13 rebounds for Syracuse (2-0), which opened the season with a

66-34 victory over Eastern Washington on Tuesday night. Paschal Chukwu also had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Next up for the Orange is a matchup with former Big East rival Connecticut on Thursday night.

Jordan Walker led Morehead State (1-2) with

24 points, including 19 in the second half. Lamontray Harris had 14 and Malek Green finished with 12.

Syracuse outrebounded the outmanned Eagles 5137 and had 44 points in the paint.

A dunk by Harris got the Eagles within three with about 16 minutes to go, but the Orange responded with a 12-0 run, keyed by Hughes’ seven points. Morehead State closed to

66-58 on a layup by A.J. Hicks with under seven minutes remaining, but Syracuse slowly pulled away in the final minutes.

Battle scored 18 in the second half after he had eight points in the season opener.

Syracuse jumped to a 25-11 lead on the strength of Brissett’s 12 points, but the Eagles went on a 16-3 run, keyed by three steals, to make it 28-27 with about five minutes left in the first half.

The Orange had a 36-30 advantage at the break.

Scare for Washington: Washington got a scare when its team bus blew a tire and caught fire Friday night after the Huskies’ 88-66 loss at No. 11 Auburn.

The accident occurred about 15 miles outside of Montgomery, Ala., The Seattle Times reported.

Players were forced to evacuate the bus, but a school spokesperson said there were no injuries.

Postponement: The game between Cal State Northridge and Pepperdine was postponed because of wildfires affecting the Malibu campus.

A makeup date hasn’t been set for the game that was to be played Saturday night.

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