J.J. Starling scored 21 points as Syracuse rallied to nip visiting Notre Dame 77-69 on Saturday.
Eddie Lampkin chipped in 13 points, 11 rebounds and three steals for the Orange (9-9, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won three of their last four games. Kyle Cuffe Jr. went 10-of-10 from the free-throw line as part of a 13-point effort.
Markus Burton scored 28 points to pace the Fighting Irish (8-10, 2-5), who squandered a blistering start and a dominant first half en route to their fifth loss in six games. Braeden Shrewsberry notched 14 points and Tae Davis and Matt Allocco each netted 11 for Notre Dame.
After trailing by 17 points in the first half and by nine at halftime, Syracuse held Notre Dame without a point for nearly four minutes to open the second half. During that stretch, the Orange scored seven points to get within 42-40.
The Fighting Irish then rebuilt an eight-point lead and still led 60-53 with 7:06 left before the Orange rallied.
Starling’s 3-pointer with 5:53 to play got Syracuse within 62-60. Soon thereafter, he was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to forge a 63-63 tie.
Allocco made two foul shots with 4:52 remaining to put his team ahead 65-63, but Starling dropped in a pair of layups around a bucket by Lampkin to give the Orange a 69-65 lead.
The Irish went nearly four minutes without a point and more than five minutes without a field goal until Allocco’s layup with 1:05 remaining. That bucket got the visitors within 69-67, and then Burton’s basket with 11 seconds left brought them within 70-69.
Cuffe responded with two free throws to restore a three-point cushion, and then Burton missed a 3-pointer with a chance to tie in the waning seconds. Jyare Davis hit a free throw to give Syracuse a 73-69 lead, and Cuffe hit four technical free throws to close the scoring.
Notre Dame scored the first 11 points of the game and led 25-8 after just over eight minutes had elapsed.
The visitors still held a comfortable 40-24 lead with under three minutes left in the half, but Cuffe and Elijah Moore made back-to-back 3-pointers to help the hosts get within 42-33 at the break.
–Field Level Media
