Syracuse 76, Mercyhurst 62: Orange respond with a wire-to-wire victory over Lakers

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – In a battle between the nation’s bottom two free-throw shooting teams, the inability to convert from the charity stripe was not the story on Wednesday.

Syracuse shot a season high 75% from the line on Wednesday to help them to a 76-62 victory over the Mercyhurst Lakers, improving to 7-4 on the season and rebounding from the loss to Hofstra on Saturday.

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The main headline heading into the game was that sophomore Donnie Freeman had been progressing in his return from injury, and there was a possibility for him to play this evening.

Even though Freeman would go through his entire warm-up routine, he would not suit up for the game.

So, Syracuse would turn to their other leader, as senior JJ Starling found the ball in his hands frequently at the beginning of the game. The Orange as a team began 5-of-7 from the field, with Starling responsible for seven of the squad’s first 11 points.

However, turnovers were plaguing the ’Cuse, and at the first media timeout, the Lakers only trailed by 1, with Syracuse leading it 11-10.

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Then, the physicality of the Orange on defense started to take over, and baskets became extremely hard to come by for Mercyhurst for the rest of the first half. The Lakers would only score 13 more points over the next 15 and a half minutes, shooting 32% from the field and being outrebounded by Syracuse 27 to 15.

At the same time, the Orange played this high level of defense without fouling, as Mercyhurst made just one free throw in the first 20 minutes of play.

The separation between the two teams came in the middle of the half, where Syracuse went on an 11-0 run and forced Mercyhurst to call a timeout with 8:52 remaining.

Over the course of the half, offensively, the Orange had a variety of scoring options as Starling, William Kyle, Nathan George, and Kiyan Anthony combined for 34 of Syracuse’s 39 first-half points. It was a real bounce-back game for George, who finished with 12 points after being held scoreless…

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Publish date : 2025-12-18 02:41:00

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