Triche plays best game, scores team-high 21 points

Brandon Triche is used to being the youngster on the court by now. When he was seven years-old, his father, Melvin, would have Triche play against 10 year-olds and 12 year-olds in games. He would also spar on the court with his two older brothers that are four and seven years his senior.

So as Triche continues to be the lone starting freshman as the point guard in Syracuse's veteran-laden lineup, he has not been intimidated.

"Coming to college I'm very comfortable playing against older guys," Triche said. "It feels the same."

Triche had the best game of his collegiate career in No. 10 Syracuse's 88-73 win over Cornell Tuesday night at the Carrier Dome. The freshman from Jamesville scored a career- and team-high 21 points in 31 minutes of action. Triche is now averaging 12.2 points per game.

"Every game I try to get better and better," Triche said. "Doing that is definitely going to help my confidence, and I know my ability and my coaches know my ability, so them talking to me a lot and giving my positive motivation."

From the onset of Tuesday's game against the Big Red, Triche seemed as comfortable offensively as he has all season. After Cornell took a 3-0 lead early in the game, he answered right back with a dagger in the corner to tie it at 3-3.

With a knack for driving to the hoop, Triche worked his way to bucket on many occasions, including a beautiful reverse lay-up while being fouled. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said Triche had some great opportunities and he got in the lane.

When Triche left the game with 1:09 left, the crowd showered him with support.

To the head coach, Triche's fast start is not any different than what he expects out of his starting point guard. When asked about his happiness over Triche's immediate effect as a freshman, Boeheim was short and succinct.

Said Boheim: "I'm not surprised."

TROUBLE WITH MOOKIE?

In the post-game press conference, head coach Jim Boeheim brushed the question off with a simple "nothing."

But during the game, minutes earlier, it appeared frustrations had mounted between the coach and redshirt freshman forward Mookie Jones.

Jones, who did not play in Monday's game, was visibly upset and at one point, tossed his signature headband and left the bench altogether in the second half. Jones returned to the bench roughly 10 minutes later, only to storm into the locker room again as soon as the final buzzer sounded, opting not to shake hands with his teammates.

During the 2K Sports Classic, Boeheim used Jones more than he had all season, but went almost exclusively with sophomore forward Kris Joseph on Monday as his primary player off the bench, which could have been the source of Jones' frustration.

Boeheim did not elaborate on the incident, and Jones was not seen in the team's locker room following the game.

THIS AND THAT

Syracuse has won 32 games in a row against the Big Red. ...Cornell has lost both of its games this year to Big East opponents (SU and Seton Hall). ...The Big Red out-rebounded the Orange, 36-35. ...Kris Joseph only shot 2-of-7 from the field, but finished with 13 points due to a 9-of-10 effort from the charity stripe. ...Rick Jackson and Arinze Onuaku combined for 14 points and 10 rebounds, which couldn't equal the effort of Johnson (15 and 10. ...Johnson has played 77 of 80 minutes in SU's last two games and played seven minutes more than any other SU player Tuesday night.

mrehalt@syr.edu ctorr@syr.edu