#2 Syracuse Fends off St. Johns in a Close One

by James Finneral

The Orange took the stage at Madison Square Garden ready to face off against the St. Johns Red Storm. Coming into the game Syracuse knew there was one main guy they needed to stop and that was D'angelo Harrison, a scoring guard for St. Johns averaging 19 points coming into the game. At the beginning Syracuse came out with some fire with two quick buckets from DeJuan Coleman followed by some scoring from C.J Fair and Tyler Ennis. Heading into halftime Cuse was ahead 39-27. In the second half Harrison took over scoring the first 7 points for St. Johns and bringing the Storm back into the ball game. Jerami Grant was a big part of the Orange success in the middle of the second half with his scoring, rebounding and his shot altering defense. Down the stretch it was the two stars that lead the way. Tyler Ennis and C.J Fair scored all of the Orange buckets from the 7 minute mark and on. Despite the effort from St. Johns outscoring Syracuse by 7 in the second half it was not enough to take them down and Syracuse finished the game winning by a score of 68-63. C.J Fair finished with another very nice showing scoring 21 points with 5 rebounds. Tyler Ennis had the largest impact on the game with his 21 and 6 assists scoring 15 points in the first half to give Cuse that nice cushion. Jerami Grant had a large effect on the game with his 14 points off the bench and one momentum changing two handed block to close out the game. To be honest I am a little surprised at how successful this team has been so far taking down quality teams such as California, Minnesota, Baylor, Indiana and now St. Johns. They face their toughest task yet on December 28th against #8 Villanova. The one thing I stress about with this team is that they have not yet played a top 10 team and that will change very soon.

MVP of the Game: Tyler Ennis, pg

Syracuse Orange 2013 Maui Invitational Champions

by James Finneral

What a great way for the Orange to kick off their season by taking home the hardware at the 2013 Maui Invitational. They are undefeated in the two times they have taken part in the tournament.

#8 Syracuse vs. Minnesota

Minnesota was the first test for Syracuse in the Maui Invitational. They are a well disciplined team with the back court leadership of Austin and Andre Hollins. They came out with fire power with three point shooting from Trevor Cooney and buckets from C.J Fair. Despite their efforts they only lead by three points at the half. Fair took over in the second half, taking it strong to the hoop and drawing fouls. In the end Syracuse grinded it out taking the victory by a final score of 75-67. Fair logged a double-double in the victory with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

#8 Syracuse vs. California

California was the next team they played. The Golden Bears were searching for revenge after the Orange eliminated them from the NCAA Tournament last year. Once again they had there work cut out for them facing the back court of Jabari Bird and Austin Cobbs for California. Both teams had successful first half's on the offensive end a lot of offensive rebounding for California and Syracuse was knocking down jumpers. The first half concluded with the game tied at 41 a piece. It was Tyler Ennis' game in the second half. Using more of the scoring point guard approach by taking it to the rack and shooting with confidence. Once Cuse jumped out to a good lead and California big man, David Kravish got into foul trouble it was all over. With 28 points from Ennis in the game Syracuse rolled to a 92-81 victory. Trevor Cooney also had a very notable performance dropping 23 points.

Championship Game #8 Syracuse vs. #18 Baylor

This was quite a finals matchup to see who would take home the championship. Baylor's front court consisting of Cory Jefferson and big time prospect Isaiah Austin. However the Bear's back court is not really as good as Trevor Cooney and Tyler Ennis which ended up giving them a huge advantage in the game. Cuse played very well in the first half having an easy time converting on offense. At half time they were up 38-30. The second half was not a great team effort. C.J Fair was the soul reason they held onto the lead scoring 14 points in the second half finishing with 24. They lost the battle in the second half by one point, but thanks to the tremendous effort by Fair down the stretch they were able to hold on and win 74-67. Fair was awarded the MVP for the tournament making his campaign even better for the Wooden Award this year.

This was an excellent way to kick off the season. They will face much better teams in the ACC, but they did beat some high quality teams and got the chemistry kick started. This team is looking very good with a balanced backcourt nice athleticism in the front court and a star player in C.J Fair. We will see how the rest of the season plays out, but it was a nice run in Maui.

C.J Fair, MVP of the Maui Invitational