Tyler Lydon picked up the ball and pushed to Syracuse’s offensive end of the court. It only took four seconds to find Trevor Cooney, who launched a 3-pointer from the left wing to give Syracuse a five-point lead.

Texas Southern’s Orlando Coleman lay on the court with trainers surrounding him as the Orange sauntered to the sideline. Each step had an extra bounce, a pep SU didn’t have just moments before.

Cooney’s quick 3 gave Syracuse separation from Texas Southern after being tied just 42 seconds earlier.

“Our best offense is our good defense, because now we’re in transition,” Syracuse interim head coach Mike Hopkins said. “… When we get into a rhythm, we get in transition, we’re a different team.”

It was the middle of a late first-half 8-0 run for the Orange (10-3), which closed out nonconference play on Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome with an 80-67 win over the Tigers (1-10). The run spilled into the second half as SU took a commanding lead that swelled to as many as 21 points with less than five minutes left in the game.

The surge was partially fueled by Syracuse’s ability to capitalize on Texas Southern’s turnovers. SU ripped the Tigers by scoring 18 points off of 15 turnovers.

“We’re a running team. We hit a lot more shots in transition,” guard Frank Howard said. “It gets our flow going. I think we’re a rhythm and that helps us get in a rhythm.”

Texas Southern had tied up the game on back-to-back 3-pointers by Jerron Martin. The Dome’s crowd of 21,601 began to groan. SU made just a single 3 in the first 15 minutes. Hopkins said the best chance to hit one is in transition, when the defense isn’t set.

With a slim cushion built by Cooney’s 3, Michael Gbinije added to the margin with eight straight points. A turnover by TSU’s Malcolm Riley sprung Gbinije in transition as he attempted a layup just three seconds later. He missed, but so did Lydon and Tyler Roberson after each one of them grabbed an offensive board. Gbinije eventually finished the play.

“We just capitalized,” Gbinije said.

Texas Southern answered with an alley-oop to Derrick Griffin, but Gbinije quelled the momentum by hitting a 3 on Syracuse’s next possession.

More than 30 seconds later, Gbinije knocked down another triple off a Lydon assist. This time it elicited a sideline celebration that included walk-on Adrian Autry Jr. pretending to shoot off arrows with an imaginary bow. Dajuan Coleman got up from his seat on the bench, waved his arms and cheered “Let’s go!” when Syracuse dropped back on defense.

“We tried to space the floor out, we got in the lane a couple times,” Gbinije said. “We made the extra pass, we got a lot of assists off our 3-point shots and we knocked them down.”

Three Texas Southern turnovers and three missed field goals allowed Syracuse to get out and run the floor in the first half’s final five minutes.

With a minute left before halftime, Roberson finished a layup to give Syracuse a 13-point lead, its biggest of the half.

With the Orange already possessing a comfortable lead, SU cruised throughout the second half and into conference play on a three-game win streak.

Published on December 27, 2015 at 7:01 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds