Brooklyn, N.Y. ― The Syracuse Orange came up with just enough key plays to outlast Richmond, 74-71 in overtime on the first night of the Empire Classic here at Barclays Center on Monday.
Joe Girard scored a career-high 31 points, but the Orange needed big performances from a pair of freshmen to hold off the Spiders.
Chris Bell, a 6-7 small forward, had struggled in Syracuse’s first three games of the year, but he scored 11 points against Richmond. Bell knocked down a clutch jumper for a 70-68 lead with 2 minutes left in overtime.
Freshman point guard Judah Mintz scored 16 points, including a tough step-through shot that gave the Orange a 72-68 lead with just under a minute left in overtime.
Syracuse (3-1) will play either Temple or St. John’s in Tuesday’s championship game.
Syracuse and Richmond took turns trading key shots throughout the second half and overtime. Neither team led by more than five points after Richmond erased an early 16-5 deficit and closed to within 34-29 at halftime.
Syracuse trailed 62-57 with 6 minutes left in regulation but scored six-straight points to take a 63-62 lead. The Orange had the ball, but Girard missed everything on a 3-point attempt with a minute remaining.
Mintz fouled Richmond’s Tyler Burton on a drive to the basket with 52 seconds left. Burton made the first, but missed the second. The ball bounced out of bounds. Initially, the referees gave Richmond the ball, but a video review reversed the call.
Syracuse had the ball with the score tied at 63 with 50 seconds left. After a timeout, Syracuse cleared the court for Girard, who got off a contested jumper that caromed off the rim.
Syracuse center Jesse Edwards came down with the rebound but couldn’t maintain control and wound up in a scrum on the floor. The Spiders had the possession arrow and got the ball back with 19.3 seconds left.
The game went into overtime when Richmond turned the ball over and Mintz tried to feed the ball to Edwards under the basket as time ran out.
Syracuse had limited Richmond to just one basket over the final six minutes.
Girard’s 31 points came on 12-for-24 field-goal shooting. He eclipsed his previous high of 30 set two years ago against N.C. State.
Edwards played just 6 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, but he came up big in the second half and the overtime period, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.
Richmond struggled to find shots against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone in the first half, but the Spiders seemed to have a much clearer plan in the second half.
The Spiders kept the floor spread and stationed All-Atlantic 10 player Tyler Burton in the high post area where he was too quick for Edwards. If the Spiders weren’t getting an open 3-pointer, Burton was maneuvering for shots in the lane.
Syracuse stayed with the Spiders, taking a 57-56 lead when Benny Williams dropped in a turnaround jumper. But Richmond answered with back-to-back 3s from Jason Roche and Isaiah Bigelow for a 62-57 lead with 5:51 left in the game.
Richmond grabbed its first lead of the game when point guard Jason Nelson opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers. The second of Nelson’s two 3s gave the Spiders a 35-34 lead. A few minutes later, Bigelow poured in another 3-pointer, causing Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim to call for a timeout less than three minutes into the second period.
Syracuse rode Girard’s incredible shooting display to a 34-29 halftime lead. Girard scored 21 points in the first half on 9-for-13 shooting. The 6-foot-1 guard connected on three of his five 3-point attempts.
Girard scored on a variety of 3-pointers, mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket. He scored 12 of SU’s last 14 points of the half.
Syracuse jumped out to an early 16-5 lead, but the momentum shifted when Edwards went to the bench after picking up his second foul with 13:48 left in the half. Edwards remained on the bench for the rest of the half.
Richmond, which had struggled to find any open looks against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone in the opening minutes, quickly closed the gap to 20-18 in just four minutes.
Although the Spiders made just 38% of their shots in the half, they created more offensive opportunities with 18 rebounds to just 11 for the Orange. Half of Richmond’s rebounds came on the offensive glass.
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