CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Trevor Cooney did all he could to dampen the home crowd’s mood in the first half.

When the North Carolina faithful crescendoed into a “Tar…Heels!” chant just under the 13-minute mark, Cooney received a pass on the left wing and buried a 3-pointer to silence the cheer. Four minutes later, he hit another 3 and faced his palms toward the court to quiet the obedient crowd.

Momentum, for both teams, rested on Cooney’s fingertips in the opening frame. But Tar Heels forward J.P. Tokoto took that influence out of Cooney’s hands by strapping down on the SU shooting guard in the second half.

“They were following him and tagging him around all screens in the second,” Syracuse forward Rakeem Christmas said. “Just weren’t as many opportunities for him to shoot.”

After pacing the Orange with 15 first-half points, Cooney scored a much quieter 13 in the second as SU (14-7, 5-3 Atlantic Coast) fell to UNC (17-4, 7-1) 93-83 at the Dean E. Smith Center on Monday night. After toying with the crowd early on, Cooney was dogged by Tokoto for most of the second half and scored his last five points with the game already out of Syracuse’s reach.

He was still able to create space with his newly developed step-back jumper, but had trouble getting clean looks on the perimeter with Tokoto shadowing him step-for-step.

“J.P., he’s a really good defender,” Cooney said. “He’s long, he’s 6-6, he’s really, really athletic. I knew that’s how they were going to play me and that he was going to cover me. I just looked to constantly keep moving and just attack and create space, and I was able to a couple times.”

With Syracuse still looking for a third player to draw attention away from Cooney and Christmas, Cooney’s diminished second-half output was a difference in the game. Christmas scored 14 of his 22 in the second, but Tokoto kept Cooney from piggy-backing the forward’s production.

Instead, it was backup guard Ron Patterson — who finished 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3 — finding himself open down the stretch. Cooney ended up making 10-of-26 shots, shooting 4-of-14 from the field and 1-of-5 from 3 in the second half.

When Tokoto walked to the bench after fouling out with 35 seconds left in the game, he walked to standing ovation and into a sea of high-fives in front of the UNC bench. He scored just seven points, but did an adequate job where he was needed the most.

“They were denying the ball and taking away (Cooney) as a scoring option,” SU forward Tyler Roberson said. “I don’t know, that can happen again in future games so we have to find a way to get him the ball, but also other people the ball.”

Published on January 26, 2015 at 11:56 pm

Contact Jesse: jcdoug01@syr.edu | @dougherty_jesse