It could have been worse. Syracuse returned from the media timeout after the second half’s four-minute mark up by three points. It was set to inbound the ball underneath Buffalo’s net, so more points, ideally, were on the way to pad the thin lead.

Except Frank Howard’s inbound pass didn’t make it to an Orange teammate. It floated into the hands of Buffalo’s CJ Massinburg, who went the length of the court for a dunk. While Howard returned to the offensive end with the ball, the Bulls’ Wes Clark swiped it and dropped in another two points for Buffalo.

It was now worse. Buffalo led by a point with a little more than three minutes left.

Howard, SU’s hot-and-cold, reborn-as-a-junior point guard, responded better this time. He nailed a 3-pointer on SU’s next possession to put the Orange ahead by two, and the lead wouldn’t slip again in Syracuse’s (10-1) 81-74 win over Buffalo (7-4) in the Carrier Dome on Tuesday night.

“That shot was the shot of the game,” head coach Jim Boeheim said, “We would have had trouble winning that game if he had missed that shot.”

Howard’s dagger came after the 17,335 fans in attendance feared SU would blot the first stain on its 2017-2018 resume. Syracuse had a loss entering Tuesday’s game. But that was to then-No.2 Kansas, not a mid-major school. An Atlantic Coast Conference team that ranks 52nd on Kenpom.com should not be losing to 129th ranked Buffalo, and for a while late in the game, it seemed like it would. Syracuse once led by 13 in the second half but trailed in the game’s final five minutes.

“I didn’t want to shy away from the moment,” Howard, who finished with 18 points, said. “I didn’t want them to continue to be the aggressor.”

The win continues SU’s dodge of a December similar to the one it experienced a year ago, when avoidable losses to mediocre teams like Connecticut, Georgetown and St. John’s eventually doomed the Orange come March. So far, SU approaches ACC play with one loss. It will want to keep it that way when it finishes its nonconference schedule with teams ranked outside Kenpom’s top 60 in St. Bonaventure and Eastern Michigan in the next week.

On Tuesday, though, entered a Buffalo team that averaged 82.1 points per game. Six of its players averaged double figures. Against Jim Boeheim’s 2-3 zone, it made just eight shots in the first half. Four were 3-pointers, which limited SU’s lead at halftime to just nine. All seemed well enough for SU, even if Tyus Battle — who finished with his second-lowest point total of the season (13) after Buffalo face-guarded him for nearly the entire game — wasn’t lighting up the scoreboard.

“A lot of teams are going to do that to me,” Battle said. “…I have to get used to it.”

If it could hold defensively in the second half, the Orange would be fine. It didn’t. Buffalo shrunk its once-13-point deficit to five. Then three. Then one. When Buffalo took a one-point lead with under nine minutes remaining in the game, a small contingent of Bulls fans midway up the Carrier Dome seats lost their minds and SU called a full timeout.

The lead would swap seven more times before the final buzzer, but SU didn’t fold against an in-state foe surely gunning for the Orange on its home floor. Near the five-minute mark, freshman guard Oshae Brissett drove to the rim and converted plus a foul. He rose back to his feet and clenched his fist in approval of the clutch play he had just made. Three rows into the seats, SU athletic director John Wildhack stood up and did the same. The ferocity became apparent in a game that could have been a formality.

SU led by three after Brissett added the free throw. He finished the day a perfect 16-for-16 from the line, one short make of the best performance in program history, and SU totaled 24-for-29 at the stripe. Boeheim said after the game that because Buffalo keyed on Battle, the Orange needed to drive. When the whistles followed, SU hit its shots.

“I just felt like I was practicing and going up there and shooting it like I’m by myself in the gym,” Brissett, who scored a game-high 25 points said. “…If they’re going to do that and not let (Battle) touch the ball, then it’s on mine and Franks hands to get the scoring in bunches.”

Attribute another portion of Buffalo’s comeback to a shift on the interior. In the first half, of which Syracuse center Paschal Chukwu played the entirety, Buffalo forward Nick Perkins struggled to score. On one possession, the 7-foot-2 Chukwu swatted a Perkins jumper from the high post for one of his eight blocks. After the break, though, Perkins had his way and finished with 18 points. Although he stands six inches shorter than Syracuse center Paschal Chukwu, a quick glance shows the contrast in thickness.

Yet it would be a Perkins turnover that made SU’s win feel safe. When it mattered most, in the final two minutes of a game that was closer than it should have been, Perkins traveled under the basket while two towers from the nation’s tallest team blocked his desired ascension to the rim. As the ref cranked his arms to signal the violation, the Carrier Dome crowd erupted. At midcourt, Tyus Battle punched the air with an outburst of emotion.

“A tough game for us,” Battle said, “but we came out with a win, so it’s a good day.”

Published on December 19, 2017 at 9:28 pm

Contact: jtbloss@syr.edu | @jtbloss