SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Judah Mintz scored 21 points and Syracuse pulled out an 88-85 win over Notre Dame on Saturday after nearly giving up a 29-point lead on “Jim Boeheim Day.”
More than 25,000 fans plus friends, family and former players came out to honor Boeheim, who took in his second game on the Orange’s home court since retiring last season before being honored in a postgame ceremony. He led the Syracuse program for 47 years — all but one a winning season — and into 35 NCAA Tournaments, including a national championship in 2003.
It looked like it would be a game-long party after Syracuse (18-10, 9-8 ACC) rolled to a 29-point lead late in the first half only to see Notre Dame (10-17, 5-11) rally behind freshmen Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry, who combined for 38 second-half points. Shrewsberry’s sixth 3-pointer with two minutes remaining followed by another 3 from Julian Roper II a minute later got the Fighting Irish to 86-83.
With 25 seconds left, Shrewsberry was short on a 3-point try and Syracuse’s Chris Bell made two free throws with 17.3 seconds left. Burton drove for a quick layup and after a missed Syracuse free throw, Burton couldn’t connect on a long 3-point attempt.
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Bell added 18 points, including four 3-pointers, Maliq Brown and Notre Dame transfer JJ Starling added 14 points each and Justin Taylor had 10 for the Orange, who shot 53%.
Burton was 10-of-20 shooting with 28 points and eight assists for Notre Dame. All 18 of Shrewsberry’s points came on his six second-half 3-pointers. Tae Davis added 12 points. Notre Dame shot 62% and was 12 of 21 from the arc with five more 3s than the Orange. But Syracuse scored 31 points off 17 turnovers.
Notre Dame scored the game’s first five points but Syracuse went on 24-4 and 17-2 runs. The Irish scored the last nine points of the first half to trail 49-29 and kept the momentum in the second half only to see a three-game win streak snapped.
Notre Dame is host to Wake Forest on Tuesday. Syracuse stays home to play Virginia Tech on Tuesday.
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