Jerron Martin knocked down a 3 and ran back down the court. Moments earlier, the Carrier Dome crowd had grumbled as 1-9 Texas Southern pulled within two. Now, the game was tied as the Tigers finished off a 10-4 run.

After 15 minutes, Syracuse was right back to where it started. But the Orange answered. First with a Tyler Roberson layup that came after Frank Howard nearly lost the ball penetrating the paint. Then with a Trevor Cooney 3 that sent SU’s bench players flooding onto the court as the game was halted due to an injury to TSU’s Orlando Coleman. And finally, Syracuse’s run extended was extended to 8-0 off a 3 from Tyler Lydon.

And it was a comfortable lead the Orange wouldn’t give up the rest of the game.

Syracuse (10-3) fended off Texas Southern (1-10), 80-67, on Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. It wasn’t easy for SU as Texas Southern capitalized on five first-half alley-oops and Syracuse’s nine missed 3s. But when the Orange needed to most, it came through with baskets off turnovers that led to 18 points.

With under three minutes until halftime, TSU’s Malcolm Riley turned the ball over and SU pushed it in transition. Michael Gbinije missed a layup and Lydon got the offensive board but he missed the layup, too. Roberson, one of the best offensive rebounders in the Atlantic Coast Conference, picked up Lydon’s miss. Except his shot rimmed out. The ball ended up back in Gbinije’s hands and finally, SU hit a layup.

Like the early portion of the game, it didn’t click at first. But eventually, Syracuse got its game together.

Gbinije hit back-to-back 3s a little over a minute later and the game that was once tied at 22 was 38-27 in the Orange’s favor. Walk-on guard Adrian Autry Jr. pretended to sling arrows toward the court. Center Dajuan Coleman lifted his body slightly from his seat on the bench while waving his arms up and down.

Syracuse went into halftime with a 10-point lead and the Tigers never got closer than that.

Five minutes into the second half, Martin committed another turnover and on the other end, Coleman drew two foul shots with which he pushed SU’s lead to 17. Throughout the first half, TSU picked on Coleman with several backdoor cuts that gashed the heart of Syracuse’s zone.

But SU limited the effectiveness of those cuts in the second half, and like the game as a whole, limited Texas Southern after the rocky start.

Published on December 27, 2015 at 3:46 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds