Donnie Freeman scored 18 points, Nate Kingz had 15 and host Syracuse staved off a strong effort from Monmouth in a 78-73 victory on Tuesday night.
Naithan George tallied 12 points, nine assists and six rebounds for Syracuse (4-0) while J.J. Starling posted 11 points. The Orange shot 50% for the game and 60.9% in the second half, leading by as many as 14 before Monmouth whittled it to a two-point margin in the closing moments.
Justin Ray racked up 25 points and Stefanos Spartalis recorded 18 for Monmouth, both marking career highs. Jack Collins added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Hawks (1-3), who capitalized on Syracuse going just 10-for-21 at the foul line in the second half.
Monmouth’s leading scorer on the season, Jason Rivera-Torres, was held to seven points on 2-of-12 shooting while battling foul trouble.
Playing with four fouls, Rivera-Torres made an athletic block on an Orange layup attempt, the Hawks ran the other way and Ray hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night to bring his team within 67-60 at the 5:27 mark.
Starling responded with a trey for Syracuse, and the Orange briefly expanded their lead to 11 before Monmouth’s final charge. Collins snatched a defensive rebound out of Freeman’s hands and hit a jumper to make it 73-67 at the 1:25 mark.
Starling was sent to the line and made one free throw but air-balled the second. After Rivera-Torres got a layup to fall, Collins knocked down a massive 3-pointer to cut it to 74-72 with 36 seconds left.
Freeman hit two free throws for Syracuse and Rivera-Torres made one for a 76-73 game before the Hawks fouled Bryce Zephir. The Syracuse reserve missed both his foul shots with 10 seconds on the clock, but Rivera-Torres’ last-ditch 3-point attempt was well off the mark.
The first 12 minutes were tightly contested, and when Collins hit a 3-pointer to put Monmouth ahead 22-18, it was the first two-possession margin of the night.
Syracuse answered that with a meticulous 16-4 run to flip it into a 34-26 advantage for the hosts. Kiyan Anthony punctuated that stretch with a hoop and harm on a drive to the basket.
The Hawks subsequently benefited from a technical foul on Syracuse coach Adrian Autry and Ray made four foul shots with 2:07 to go in the half. Andrew Ball drilled a triple to cut the Hawks’ deficit to 36-33 at intermission.
Syracuse made its first five field-goal attempts of the second half. Soon after, George lobbed up a pair of passes to set up thunderous dunks, one by William Kyle III and another by Sadiq White Jr. The latter made it 63-49 with 8:27 left.
