SOUTH BEND, Ind. — After 34:42 of game time, it finally happened.

After avoiding drivers for the entire second half and tentatively contesting shots, Rakeem Christmas got a little too close to Bonzie Colson. The Notre Dame crowd erupted as if Christmas’ fifth foul decided the game right then and there, even with Syracuse up eight points and plenty of basketball to play.

And if it weren’t for Trevor Cooney, it probably would have.

As Christmas walked to the bench, the Fighting Irish student section yelled “Left! Right!” every time his shoes touched the floor. During an SU timeout, Michael Gbinije called over Cooney and told him that without Christmas, the pair would have to put the finishing touches on a win the Orange has coveted all season.

Cooney listened. Then he delivered.

Nine of the junior’s 11 points came down the stretch and were the difference maker in SU’s (18-10, 9-6 Atlantic Coast) 65-60 victory over No. 9 Notre Dame (24-5, 12-4) at Purcell Pavilion on Tuesday night. With no postseason to play for, the Orange rode the sprained back of its wounded sharpshooter to its most impressive win of the season in front of 9,149 shocked fans.

It was a result capable of pushing Syracuse into the NCAA Tournament bubble, provided by the mercurial Cooney — who blocked out the pain and countered his recent shooting drought with the gutsiest individual performance of SU’s season.

“I thought it was amazing,” SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. “… He’s one of the toughest guys ever, to ever play here. You get those opportunities and you take them. Shooters believe in themselves.”

By the end of the first half, it was as if Syracuse and Notre Dame were fighting to be the oddest team on the court.

Without Cooney, Christmas or Gbinije on the court, the Orange ran its offense through B.J. Johnson — who finished with a game-high 19 points — and the Fighting Irish shot an uncharacteristic 2-of-13 from 3 to send Syracuse into halftime with a 27-22 lead.

Then out of the break, UND shifted its offensive approach to attack the rim and get Christmas out of the game. It was unsuccessful for most of the half, but Christmas’ final walk to the bench at the 5:18 mark of the second half spurred a small run that drew the Fighting Irish within four points of the reeling Orange.

“We just made some mistakes but we kept battling,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said of Christmas fouling out. “We kept fighting and in the end we just wanted to use as much of clock as we could and then get the ball to (Gbinije) or (Cooney).”

And twice, Syracuse milked the shot clock to the last few seconds before Cooney kept his team moving.

At the end of a broken possession, Cooney found himself double-teamed in the corner but drained a fadeaway prayer. Two minutes later, Cooney sized up Steve Vasturia and hit a 3 in the guard’s face before turning, clenching both fists and screaming in celebration. It was his only make of six attempts from deep but it bumped the Orange’s lead to five at a critical moment.

Finally, Cooney rushed down the court on the next possession and finished a layup to all but seal the win.

“Once you’re in the heat of the game and everything it goes away,” Cooney said while beckoning to his back. “Especially when you win, you don’t really feel it.”

When the game seemed lost as Christmas exited the court, Cooney gathered the pieces and willed Syracuse to its first win over a Top 10 team this season. In doing so, he buried his 4-for-23 3-point shooting stretch in the Orange’s last three games. And with it all — a performance that dragged at first before hitting warped speed — he showed that he and his team is going to make Syracuse’s absence from the postseason a decision by the university.

Not a product of the team’s play.

“There’s a lot of pride on the line here. We’re playing for a lot more than just trophies and medals, really,” Cooney said. “We’re playing for each other and we’re playing for everybody else before us. That’s what we’re really doing now.

“And as you can tell we’re not giving up.”

Jesse Dougherty is a staff writer for The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at jcdoug01@syr.edu or on Twitter at @dougherty_jesse.

Published on February 25, 2015 at 12:09 am