SYRACUSE, NY – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-10, 2-5) fell 77-69 to the Syracuse Orange (9-9, 3-4) on Saturday night in their second time facing each other this season.
Markus Burton put up a first half career-high 22 points as he finished the night with 28, finishing one shy of his season high. Braeden Shrewsberry finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
Matt Allocco finished the night with 11 points, shooting 4-5 from the floor while grabbing seven boards alongside Tae Davis, who also chipped in seven rebounds for the Irish. The Irish outrebounded the Orange 43-34.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a hot start for the Irish as Davis opened it up with the first basket of the night, followed by a big defensive stop with a Syracuse shot clock violation. A Shrewsberry trey coupled by a jumper from Burton forced the early Orange timeout as Notre Dame was off to a 9-0 start.
Matt Allocco extended the Irish lead to 11-0 as the Orange were held scoreless through the first 3:08 of play, knocking down their first shot of the night to make it 11-3 at the 15:52 mark.
Back-to-back Burton threes gave the Irish the 14-point advantage before Allocco knocked down another from deep and Burton laid it in at the rim to put the Irish up by 17 with 10:53 left in half.
Burton was heating up, scoring the next eight points for Notre Dame to make it 31-14. Back-to-back baskets from Shrewberry was followed by yet another finish at the rim from Burton, giving him 22 points in just 15 minutes of play. He alone was outscoring the Orange as the Irish led 38-21 with 4:55 to go in the half.
Syracuse wasn’t going anywhere though as they closed out the final five minutes of the period with a 12-4 run to close the gap to nine, making it a 42-33 ballgame heading into the second half.
The Irish shot 50% from the floor, going 16-32 in the half, while also shooting at an impressive clip of 55.6% from three (5-9). The Irish held the Orange to 11-28 (39.3%) shooting and outrebounded Syracuse 20-14.
Syracuse opened the second half with a 7-0 run to bring it within two at 42-40. Free throws kept the Irish in front as they knocked down six straight from the charity stripe followed by an Allocco jumper to extend the Notre Dame lead 52-44.
It was a tug-of-war between the two squads as Notre Dame struggled to pull away and Syracuse continued to try to close the gap. A 6-2 Orange run brought Syracuse back within four at 54-50 with 9:08 remaining
The Orange were aggressive offensively, getting to the rim and drawing fouls. Fouled on a missed trey, Syracuse knocked down all three free throws to tie it up at 63-63 at 5:06.
A pair of Allocco foul shots put Notre Dame back in front at 65-63, but another 6-0 run from Syracuse put the Irish down four at 69-65 with 2:58 on the clock.
With 1:05 remaining, Allocco would knock down the jump shot to bring the Irish within one possession at 69-67. After a huge defensive stop from Notre Dame, the Irish had one last possession, but an offensive foul would give possession back to the Orange as the Irish were in a must-foul situation. Syracuse would knock down seven free throws as they closed out the win 77-69.
UP NEXT
The Irish are back on the road after a mid-week bye as they travel to Charlottesville to face the Virginia Cavaliers (8-10, 1-6) on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Notre Dame is back at home on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 9 p.m. against Georgia Tech.
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