Syracuse earns narrow win against St. Bonaventure
Two players on the court last night were more than just rivals
Kaleb Joseph for Syracuse and Idris Taqqee for St. Bonaventure attended Cushing Academy prep school and were roommates their first year.
At Cushing with Kaleb as point guard and Idris as shooting guard, the players won two back-to-back championship games together.
Last night the two battled it out on the court with fierce three point shots and aggressive defensive tactics. Syracuse claimed the win though, beating St. Bonaventure 79-66.
With St. Bonaventure on the verge of beating Syracuse for the first time since 1981, the Orange desperately needed one of its veteran leaders to step up. Michael Gbinije answered the bell.
The fifth year senior scored 23 points, and the Orange overcame a nine point second half deficit to defeat St. Bonaventure 79-66 last night.
“I thought Mike really was tremendous in the second half,” said Orange coach Jim Boeheim.
St. Bonaventure used hot outside shooting and an edge in rebounding to jump out to an early 11 point advantage. In the first half, the Bonnies hit six three pointers and out rebounded the Orange by five. St. Bonaventure, led 35-29 at the half.
After St. Bonaventure opened up a 43-34 lead within the first four minutes of the second half, Syracuse went on an 11-5 run to cut the lead to 48-45. St. Bonaventure forward Dion Wright then hit a three pointer as the shot clock expired to put the Bonnies back up by six.
With the game in the balance, the Orange defense took over. St. Bonaventure scored just 12 points in the last ten minutes of the game, while the Syracuse developed a rhythm offensively. Syracuse took its first lead of the second half with 8:36 left and led for the rest of the game.
Jim Boehiem explained after the game, “We could not get our offense going at all.
“The second half, we opened up a little bit more and got some driving areas.”
With 13:47 left to play in the second half, Jaylen Adams hit a three pointer to extent the St. Bonaventure’s lead to 48-40. It was the ninth three pointer of the game for the Bonnies who had been able to withstand every Syracuse rally.
Gbinije’s three pointer on the next possession kept the Orange within striking distance and gave the orange momentum for its second half surge.
Gbinije’s clutch three pointer was the turning point for Syracuse and his performance is arguably the reason to Syracuse’s win last night.