SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The scoreboard said Syracuse handled Niagara in Saturday’s exhibition at KeyBank Center. The game itself told a messier story.
Syracuse walked away with a 71-58 win, but the Orange spent long stretches looking like a team still trying to put its preseason together. Niagara cut into a big early deficit, and Syracuse needed an 8-0 run over the final two minutes to make the margin look comfortable.
Gavin Doty turned in the biggest individual performance for Syracuse, finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Luke Wilson added 12 points for the Orange.
This was Syracuse’s third and final exhibition before its regular season opener against New Haven on Monday, Nov. 2 at the JMA Wireless Dome. The preseason had already included a 72-52 loss to Connecticut at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, followed by an 81-76 win over Siena at MVP Arena in Albany last Sunday.
Against Niagara, the same issues that showed up in those earlier tune-ups surfaced again. Syracuse shot only 6 of 25 from 3-point range, a 24% clip, and also coughed the ball up 14 times.
The Orange did open well. For the first 15 minutes, Syracuse looked sharp on defense and built a lead as large as 17 points. Niagara managed just 12 points in that stretch, with Syracuse forcing the Purple Eagles into four made field goals on 19 attempts.
Then the last five minutes of the half changed the feel of the game. Niagara scored 14 points in that span, including three 3-pointers, while Syracuse’s edge shrank to 33-26 at halftime. The margin may have been seven, but it felt smaller than that after the way the half ended.
Niagara carried that momentum into the second half. Syracuse’s defense, which had been so disruptive early, allowed the Purple Eagles to shoot 6 of 12 from the floor over the first eight minutes after the break. Syracuse still led 50-43 at that point, but the game was no longer in control.
Niagara then scored the next five points to pull within 52-48 and force Gerry McNamara to call timeout with 8:03 left. The Purple Eagles were still within five at the two-minute mark before Syracuse finally closed it out with those last eight unanswered points.
Injuries have been a part of the preseason for Syracuse, though every player was available Saturday except Aiden Tobiason. The 6-foot-5 transfer guard from Temple re-aggravated a hamstring injury less than two minutes into the exhibition against UConn, missed the rest of that game, sat out against Siena, and did not play against Niagara.
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