Article by Dan Tortora
After being off of their home court for almost a month, from November 30th to December 27th, the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team played two games in three days inside the Carrier Dome, both versus the Ivy League.
Syracuse took care of their first Ivy League foe easily, defeating the Brown Bears 93-62 on Monday, December 27th.
The following match-up with the Cornell Big Red was the 126th overall game between these New York-based institutions, with the Orange lead the series with 94 wins and the Big Red with 31 victories. Syracuse had won the last 40 games straight in this head-to-head series going into this 2021 contest.
It was fitting that Orange graduate forward Jimmy Boeheim was the first to score in the game for either end as this was the first time he was facing his former team. He scored on a layup on Syracuse's first possession just 10 seconds into the game.
The Orange would open up this contest on a 6-0 run, with Jimmy and his brother Buddy, a senior guard, and Joe Girard, III, a junior guard, each getting on the first in the first three minutes and some change to start the match-up.
By the 13:15 mark of the first half, the Orange had advanced out to a double-digit lead, ahead 12-2, off of a dunk by junior center Jesse Edwards.
Cornell, however, would go on a run of their own, 10-4, to end the first half, bringing them within two possessions of Syracuse, 34-29, heading into the locker rooms at the Carrier Dome.
The Big Red had five players connect from long range in the first half. Cornell made eights threes in the opening 20 minutes, going 8-for-24 from beyond the arc (32.3%) as opposed to Syracuse's 2-for-12 shooting from distance in the first half (16.7%). Buddy Boeheim and senior forward Cole Swider were the only Orange players to cash in from distance in the first half.
Boeheim Bros Buddy and Jimmy attained double-figures in scoring in the first half, Buddy with 13 and Jimmy, against his old team, with 10.
Cornell would get to within one possession once and within two possessions three other times in the first four minutes and some change of the second half.
Starting at the 14:30 mark and going to 13:09 remaining, Swider would score eight-straight points for the Orange, going on an 8-3 run by himself versus the Big Red, aiding the Orange out to a 56-43 advantage.
Syracuse would score the next six points to make it a 14-3 run over Cornell out to a 19-point advantage, 62-43, with 10:20 to go in the contest.
At the 9:21 mark, Big Red sophomore forward Keith Boothby connected for his sixth three-pointer of the night, bringing the game to 62-49 Orange.
After going 2-for-12 from long range in the first half, Syracuse started the second half 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, with the fourth coming at the 6:51 mark of the half from Buddy Boeheim, bringing the score to 70-53 Syracuse and getting Buddy to the 20-point mark.
But Cornell would not go away easily, going from being down by as many as 19 in the second half, the Big Red fought to within nine off of a three by senior guard Dean Noll with 2:11 to play.
Syracuse would respond with a 5-2 run to put things away in the Carrier Dome, 80-68, winning their 41st-straight game against Cornell and 95th overall in their 126-game series.
Boothby would conclude the contest going 6-for-11 from long range for the Big Red, scoring 20 points overall, followed by freshman forward Guy Ragland, Jr., who had 16 points in 16 minutes, and Noll with 10.
Buddy Boeheim led all Orange with 22 points, followed by Swider with 21, his first 20-point game as a member of the Orange.
Edwards was just shy of a double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Jimmy Boeheim ended the night with 16 points on 8-for-12 shooting (66.7%), going 8-for-10 from inside the three-point line, with seven rebounds (3 offense, 4 defense), one assist, and one steal in 29 minutes versus his former team.