Last time they played: Marquette
When Syracuse took on Marquette to close out the 2009 regular season on March 7, 2009, the Golden Eagles were struggling down the stretch.
Three straight Big East losses combined with an injury to senior point guard Dominic James had Marquette limping toward the postseason.
But that apparent slump did not stop the Golden Eagles from challenging the Orange in Milwaukee. SU guards Jonny Flynn and Andy Rautins combined for 44 points, propelling Syracuse to an 86-79 overtime victory. But it was not easy. SU needed a late free throw by forward Rick Jackson to give the Orange a chance in extra time.
‘It was one of those games where you just have to dig it out in overtime,’ head coach Jim Boeheim said after the win. ‘We hung in there. Whenever you blow a game like that, it’s always going to be tough in overtime.’
Marquette jumped out to an early lead before SU settled in at the hostile Bradley Center in front of 19,144, the largest crowd to watch a college basketball game in the state’s history. By halftime, the Orange had worked its way back into the game, trailing by just one, 35-34.
Flynn, now a member of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, then took over in the second half. He scored 20 of his 24 points after halftime, mostly by driving the lane and finishing at the bucket. His efforts pushed the Orange to a 63-53 lead at the 7:22 mark of the second half.
But the Golden Eagles refused to go away. Behind Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal, Marquette went on a 17-4 run, putting Syracuse down by three.
Forced to come from behind yet again, the Orange found itself down a point with 13 seconds left on the clock. Jackson, a 48.1 percent free-throw shooter in 2009, stepped to the line and hit one of two shots from the charity stripe.
Boeheim said after the game that even he was surprised Jackson was able to tie the score.
‘Pray, pray. He was praying it in,’ the Syracuse coach said. ‘… I don’t know how it went in.’
After surviving a 3-point attempt at the buzzer by McNeal, the Orange dominated the extra time behind Rautins and a strong team defensive performance. The junior guard, now an SU captain, hit a three, made an acrobatic layup, and nailed two free throws, outscoring Marquette by himself in the extra five minutes.
The overtime victory gave Syracuse its fourth win in a row and secured the No. 6 seed in the Big East tournament for the Orange. The loss continued the Golden Eagles’ skid to close out 2009 and dropped them to the fifth seed in the conference tournament.
‘It was a back-and-forth battle all day,’ Flynn said. ‘Shot after shot. We would miss, they would make. We would make, they would miss. It was just a fun game to play in.’
Published on January 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm
