 "Photo: Ian Witlen")
MIAMI - Syracuse watched its lead, that had been pushed to as much as 15, deflate to just four with 6:35 remaining in the Sunday's second-round NCAA Tournament game. The Orange seemed helpless to stop to the ever-shrinking cushion that Arizona State continued to cut into.
Three ASU buckets and two timeouts had passed since Syracuse's last score, and its Sweet 16 hopes seemed to be hanging in the balance. So SU coach Jim Boeheim called a third timeout, and set up a play and end his team's three-minute drought.
"We were going to go with a pick-and-roll and try to go inside or try to get the shooter in the corner," Boeheim said. "…They were pretty good at finding Andy (Rautins) but he got just a little room, Harden was just a little late. Obviously the way the momentum was that was a big play."
Rautins drained a 3-pointer from the right baseline corner, sparking the Orange to a 15-4 run that allowed the team to cruise to a 78-67 win. The victory in the American Airlines Arena punches Syracuse a ticket to its first Sweet 16 since 2004. SU will now square off against No. 2 Oklahoma in Memphis Friday.
But a return to FedEx Forum was nearly canceled, had Syracuse not kept its poise down the stretch against a rallying Arizona St. squad. Syracuse had trailed for only 40 seconds the entire game, all of which came in the first three minutes of play. For 31 minutes, the Orange imposed its will upon ASU, but suddenly hit a drought during the most important stretch of the game.
When Rautins rained down a 3, any notion of an upset from the No. 6 seed was erased. Guard Eric Devendorf then nailed back-to-back 3's of his own as the Orange immediately returned to its dominant play.
"When they cut it to four, Jonny made a great penetration and kicked it to Andy and then he made a couple to get Eric the ball," Boeheim said. "They knocked down big shots. That was the difference."
The shooting guard duo of Devendorf and Rautins combined to score 38 of the Orange's 78 points on 8-of-18 shooting from deep. Devenforf led the way with a game-high 21 points, while Rautins had 17. As a whole, the Orange continued its offensive tear, shooting over 55 percent from the field.
The SU defense returned to its recent stranglehold form. Once Rautins' shot fell to put SU up by eight, the Sun Devils didn't make another field goal for the next 4:39. By the time the next ASU field goal fell through the net, SU led by 15 and the game was all but over.
Syracuse's 2-3 zone defense continued to give fits the Sun Devils' leading scorers. Leading scorer James Harden didn't have a single point in the first half and was frustrated throughout the game, scoring 10 points, half his season average. Jeff Pendergraph, ASU's second-leading scorer, put up nine points in a truncated game, fouling out with 10:19 remaining the game.
"Our defense really had to buckle down there," Flynn said. "When a team has confidence like that, they think they can do whatever. They went on an unbelievable run at that time and we really forced them into a crucial turnover at that point."
The Sun Devils made 13 3-pointers, tied for the most any opponent has made against the Orange. But many of those came as Harden and Pendergraph were absent offensively.
The 3-point barrage led the run that stymied the Orange late, led by ASU's Ty Abbott and Rihards Kuksiks, who both made six treys, tying an NCAA Tournament record for most 3's in a game.
But even that type of effort wasn't enough to overwhelm the Orange down the stretch.
"This is the NCAA Tournament, so we know every team is going to make a run at us," Devendorf said. "…They made a run, but the guys we have on our team, even though Jonny Flynn is a sophomore he's a veteran player, the best point guard in America, and Andy Rautins knocked down a big shot."
mibonner@syr.edu
Be the first to comment on this article!