Rutgers University
Syracuse
Rutgers Suffers 70-40 Loss at No. 25 Syracuse
Mar 03 | Men's Basketball
Syracuse, N.Y. - Rutgers (10-20, 10-16) held No. 25/25 Syracuse (22-8, 10-7) to 19 first half points, but could not contain the Orange after the midpoint in a 70-40 loss at the Carrier Dome Tuesday night. Freshman guard Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) led the Scarlet Knights with 16 points, while junior center Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) grabbed nine rebounds, in the losing effort.
Rutgers was unable to find its shot and concluded the evening making just 25.4 percent (15-59) of its field goals, including 16.7 percent (4-24) from behind the arc. After struggling against a tough RU defense in the opening 20 minutes, Syracuse made 75 percent of its shots in the second half to finish at 54.9 percent (28-51).
Rutgers made three of its first four shots from the field to jump-out to a 10-5 lead. The Scarlet Knights increased their lead to nine points (14-5) on a Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela) layup with 14:34 on the first half clock. The Orange answered with a 9-2 run to tighten the contest, before the Scarlet Knights entered the locker room at the midpoint with a 20-19 edge.
Syracuse junior forward Arinze Onuaku, who was held scoreless in the first half, made the first field goal of the second stanza to provide the home squad a lead it would never relinquish. The Orange ran its advantage to double figures (40-28) on an Andy Rautins three pointer with 12:18 remaining and never looked back.
Paul Harris scored 18 points to lead four SU players in double figures. The Orange bench out-scored the Rutgers reserves 30-1.
Rutgers returns to action Saturday afternoon for its final regular season contest, a 2:00 p.m. match-up with USF at the RAC. The game will be televised live via the web via www.espn360.com. Prior to the contest, the Scarlet Knights' seniors will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony.
