Freshman guard Judah Mintz scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, including two free throws with 24 seconds left, to lead Syracuse (16-10, 9-6 ACC) past #23/22 NC State (20-7, 10-6), 75-72, on Tuesday night at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Senior center Jesse Edwards posted his 11th double-double, tallying 18 points and 16 rebounds. Syracuse had all five starters score in double digits with senior guard Joseph Girard III (14 points) and freshmen forwards Chris Bell (11) and Maliq Brown (10) joining Mintz and Edwards.
HOW THE GAME WAS DECIDED
With the Wolfpack holding a 70-67 lead and 3:11 remaining. the Orange rallied. Mintz converted his first 3-pointer of the night with 2:42 left to knot the score, 70-70. Syracuse came up with a defensive stop at one end and Edwards contributed a conventional three-point play at the other to put the hosts up, 73-70, and 1:47 on the clock.
D.J. Burns, who finished with 15 points for NC State, answered with a basket in the lane but missed the ensuing free throw.The Wolfpack then forced the Orange into a shot-clock violation, and had possession trailing by one. Edwards drew a charge on Burns and Mintz was fouled attacking the basket to set up his two free throw makes. NC State managed two more shot attempts but misfired and the Orange emerged.
WOLFPACK HOWL IN THE EARLY GOING
A 3-pointer by the Wolfpack's Jarkel Joiner knotted the contest for the third time in the opening six minutes, 8-8. Joiner tacked five points onto his triple, which sent NC State on a 14-2 run. Terquanvion Smith dunked the ball on an assist from Joiner to conclude the spurt. The visitors held a 19-10 advantage with under 10 left before halftime.
The Orange responded by scoring 15 of the next 20 points. Girard got things going with a jumper and added a 3-pointer to account for five points. Brown led Syracuse with six points, his dunk coupled with a dunk from Bell gave the SU a one-point edge, 25-24. Edwards closed out the Orange effort with two makes at the line and Syracuse led, 27-24, with three minutes remaining in the first frame.
NC State knotted the game three times in the remaining three minutes of the half. Casey Morsell made a layup to tie the game 31-31 with 51 ticks left. In the final 36 seconds, four points by Bell put the Orange in front, sending SU into halftime with a 35-31 advantage.
ELECTRIC DOWN THE STRETCH
Edwards completed a three-point play and Syracuse held a 50-43 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the contest. Across the next sixty seconds, NC State's Smith nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to cut SU's edge to a single point, 50-49.
Mintz was sent to the charity stripe by Ebenezer Dowuona and made both shots. Edwards added a layup and Syracuse was in front 54-49 with 10 minutes left. In the next minute and a half, buckets were traded, capped off by Edwards' first career 3-pointer. The Orange continued to hold down the Dome in front of an electric crowd, 59-54.
