SOUTH BEND, Ind. — After doing nearly all of his damage from the perimeter, B.J. Johnson attacked the rim, drew contact and quieted the rowdy Notre Dame crowd.

Moments before, the crowd lifted its energy to match up a Fighting Irish press that was ultimately beat by Johnson, who was fouled by Pat Connaughton on a two-handed dunk and finished a three-point play to nudge Syracuse’s lead to five with 30 seconds left in the game.

Johnson — a reserve forward who didn’t score a single point in SU’s first four Atlantic Coast Conference games — has been itching for a breakout game since scoring 12 points in a win at Boston College on Feb. 11. It came in the Orange’s (18-10, 9-6 ACC) 65-60 win over No. 9 Notre Dame (24-5, 12-4) on Tuesday night, as the sophomore scored a game-high 19 points while shooting 7-of-13 from the field.

The victory was Syracuse’s first over a Top 10 team this season, and Johnson matched a career-high scoring output set in SU’s season-opening win over Kennesaw State on Nov. 14.

“B.J. was terrific tonight,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s getting some space because they’re worried about (Rakeem Christmas) so much that he’s going to get a few shots and he knocked them down.”

With Christmas in foul trouble, Trevor Cooney nursing a sprain in his back and Michael Gbinije off to a slow offensive start, Boeheim rolled out a patchwork lineup with Johnson as the go-to scorer.

The Fighting Irish made just two field goals in the last 10 minutes of the first, and the lineup of Johnson, Ron Patterson, Tyler Roberson, Kaleb Joseph and Chinonso Obokoh was on the court for a bulk of that stretch. And while the Orange had trouble creating separation, its offensive production was buoyed by a 3 and long two off Johnson’s fingertips.

“We get in situations like that when we’re playing four-on-four up and down and the older guys are sitting out and those guys are playing,” Cooney said. “It’s up to other people to make plays and B.J. stepped up huge today.

“… I think he’s into a great rhythm. That’s big for him to really get into that and it’s fun to watch.”

Johnson scored 10 of his 19 points in the second half, including a top-of-the-arc 3 that gave Syracuse a 34-28 lead with 15:03 left in the game.

Then he iced off his performance with two free throws at the 42-second mark before closing the night with the and-one slam that all but punctuated a Syracuse upset.

“He’s been working hard in practice and having good practices,” SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. “And when you have good practices, Coach gives you an opportunity and you knock ‘em down.”

Published on February 25, 2015 at 12:21 am

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse