Detroit Nearly Spoils Party, Valpo Loses Late on Monday

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 17)
#3/3 Syracuse 72, Detroit 68
Oakland 70, Valparaiso 68

Detroit nearly spoiled Jim Boeheim’s 900^th victory celebration, while Valparaiso squandered a late lead in a road loss at Oakland on Monday night.

#3/3 Syracuse 72, Detroit 68
Detroit used a late surge to cut a one-time 22-point deficit down to just three, but could not complete the comeback effort dropping a 72-68 decision at No. 3/3 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome.

Before a national television audience on ESPN2, Detroit (6-5) outscored the Orange 47-32 in the second half.

Syracuse (10-0) held a 61-39 lead with 9:09 remaining before the Titans put together a 25-6 run to cut the Orange lead to 67-64 with 29 seconds left. Michael Carter-Williams then made a pair of free throws to extend the Syracuse lead to 69-64, before Jason Calliste made a jumper to make it a three point game again, 69-66, with 17 seconds remaining. Two more free throws from Carter-Williams extended  the lead to five, before a Doug Anderson dunk made the score 71-68 with two seconds left. Carter-Williams then missed the first of two free throws before making the second to claim win number 900 for Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim.

Anderson and Juwan Howard, Jr. led the way with 18 points apiece, which included some emphatic highlight dunks from Anderson, while Nick Minnerath added 13. Ray McCallum scored nine points with four assists and three steals while Calliste pitched in seven points with a team-high seven assists.

Syracuse jumped out to an early 10-4 lead by the first media timeout, before the Titans responded with an 8-5 run to trim the lead to 15-12 with 12:09 left. But the Orange answered back by closing the half with a 25-9 run, including a three-pointer from Carter-Williams in the closing seconds, to take a 40-21 lead into the locker room.

Anderson led Detroit with eight points, including three monster jams, while McCallum and Minnerath had four points apiece. The Titans only shot 34.5 percent from the floor and were 0-for-10 from downtown, while Syracuse shot 55.6 percent and was 6-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Both teams exchanged baskets to start the second half, before the Titans slowly trimmed the Syracuse lead to 54-38, following a Minnerath dunk with 11:01 left. The Orange responded with a 7-1 run over the next two minutes to build their largest lead of the game 61-39, before the Titans started their massive comeback. Anderson recorded three dunks in the run, while Howard made a pair of three-pointers and four-straight free throws to help trim the lead to three with 29 seconds left.

Syracuse won the battle on the boards, 34-28, but Detroit forced 18 Orange turnovers, while distributing 19 assists. Syracuse shot 46.8 percent overall, while the Titans finished shooting 46.7 percent, including 58.1 percent in the second half.

Syracuse was led by Carter-Williams who finished with 12 points and 10 assists for the double-double, while James Southerland scored a game-high 22 points, 16 in the first half.

Oakland 70, Valparaiso 68
Valparaiso held a nine-point lead at Oakland with under five minutes to play, but the Golden Grizzlies scored the final 11 points of the game to send the Crusaders to a 70-68 defeat at the O’Rena in Rochester, Mich.

Valparaiso (7-4) trailed by as many as 10 points early in the second half and were down 48-39 with 15:21 to play, but a 13-2 run not only got Valpo back into the game, it gave the Crusaders the lead. LaVonte Dority started the run with back-to-back baskets, and following an Oakland basket, Bobby Capobianco  converted a 3-point play to bring Valpo within 50-46.

Ninety seconds later, Kevin Van Wijk knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a two-point game.  After two possessions, Ben Boggs connected from inside to tie the game, and Jordan Coleman followed with a steal and fast-break layup to put the Crusaders ahead 52-50 with 9:27 to play. Valpo held Oakland to just 1-of-12 shooting over the six-minute stretch to help spur the run.

The Crusaders continued to extend the advantage after taking the lead. A triple by Boggs at the 7:12 mark put Valpo up 59-54, and after Oakland had cut the lead back down to two points, Dority connected on a triple to make it 62-57 with 6:20 remaining. Dority’s 3-pointer opened up a 9-2 Valpo spurt, as Van Wijk hit baskets inside on each of the Crusaders’ next three possessions, the last of which put Valpo ahead 68-59 with 4:51 to go.

But the last Van Wijk layup marked the last Crusader points. Oakland hit three free throws, a mid-range jumper and then split a pair from the charity stripe to cut its deficit to 68-65 with 2:08 to play. After a Crusader miss, the Grizzlies came down and got a tough baseline runner from Travis Bader to make it a one-point game with 1:22 remaining.

Valpo misfired on a 3-pointer with the shot clock running down on its next trip, and Duke Mondy got inside for a layup for the Golden Grizzlies with 20 seconds left to put them ahead 69-68. After a Valpo miss, Mondy split his second attempt at a one-and-one from the foul line, with the Crusaders grabbing the rebound down two with nine seconds left. But the last-ditch 3-pointer was off the mark to close the ballgame.

The first half saw the Crusaders lead early on, owning as much as a four-point advantage after a Dority dunk. But Oakland used a 9-0 run to take control, and led by as many as eight points in the opening stanza. The Crusaders moved back to within two at 34-32 at halftime, however, scoring eight of the final ten points, including a 3-pointer from Capobianco and three free throws by Dority. Valpo actually tied the game early in the second half on a basket by Ryan Broekhoff, but Oakland scored 10 points on its next four possessions to go ahead by double figures.

Dority led a balanced scoring effort for Valpo with 14 points, but was just 5-of-14 from the floor. Boggs and Van Wijk added 11 points apiece, the former doing it on perfect 5-of-5 shooting, while Broekhoff posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Capobianco chipped in nine points and nine rebounds as well in the losing effort.  The Crusaders shot better than 50 percent from the field (27-of-53), but were just 7-of-23 from the 3-point line and were plagued by 19 turnovers.

Oakland (4-7) also placed four players in double figures, as Bader, Ryan Bass and Mondy all tied for team-high honors with 16 points. Corey Petros added 12 points as well. The Grizzlies shot just 38.3 percent (23-of-60) from the field, but were awarded 25 free throws to the Crusaders’ 10.