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Judah Mintz worked from the top of the key as the fans at the JMA Wireless Dome waited for a reason to get up out of their chairs.

Mintz worked through Pitt defenders before noticing Benny Williams sneak near the right block. As Mintz drove, he threw the ball up for an alley-oop to give the Orange an eight-point lead.

The highlight-reel play capped off a second-half comeback from Syracuse (10-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) in its 81-73 win over Pittsburgh (9-4, 0-2 ACC). After Pitt went on a 14-4 run to end the first half, SU outscored the Panthers 51-35. The victory gave the Orange their first conference win of the season as Williams, Quadir Copeland and Maliq Brown combined for 52 points. The Orange finished shooting 47 percent from the field while only making three 3-pointers.

“It’s always tough coming back from a break to get guys back in rhythm,” SU head coach Adrian Autry said. “But the good thing is that even though we’re young, they understand what close games are about.”

Tight and physical play led to chaotic sequences throughout the whole contest between SU and Pitt. With just over three minutes remaining in the half, J.J. Starling lost the ball, but Mintz got the ball right back in a steal. He threw a pass to Chris Bell in transition. But as Bell tried to gain full control, Carlton Carrington tipped the ball away, giving the Panthers possession. On the other end, Blake Hinson finished with a dunk to continue an 11-4 scoring run for Pitt.

Despite Syracuse’s physicality, the Panthers kept their possessions alive via offensive rebounds. Pitt has the most players with at least 50 rebounds in the ACC (six), helping it corral nine offensive boards in the first half compared to SU’s four.

It only got worse in the final 90 seconds of the half for Syracuse.

Mintz tried to get SU back into the contest by driving down the center of the lane. But the point guard got called for a charge, resulting in a livid response from both Mintz and head coach Autry. As the boo birds loudly reigned down at the Dome, Carrington made both free throws, before getting possession back and hitting a 3-pointer.

All of a sudden it was a 10-point lead for the Panthers after neither team led by more than four points for the majority of the half. Autry’s diagnosis of the late first-half woes was simple.

“(In) the first half, we didn’t communicate,” Autry said.

Pitt, a team that averages 2.08 years of Division-I experience per KenPom compared to Syracuse’s 1.23, looked like the more experienced and physical team. Even as Mintz went to the charity stripe for three shots, he looked almost resigned as nothing seemed to fall for him.

Copeland said Autry’s message was that the Orange had been in this situation before this season. But initially in the second half, the anger started to mount.

Later in the half, Mintz’s reverse layups weren’t falling, and then Bell was called for a shooting foul. He yelled out in frustration.

But just as Mintz failed to get anything going seemingly, he and Brown led the Orange on the second-half run that flipped the entire dynamic of the game. Autry’s players, unlike in the first half, started to talk to each other much more and lock down near the hoop as offensive stars like Hinson and Jorge Diaz Graham either stayed on the bench or didn’t make much noise.

Brown scored on a free throw and two jumpers in the post before Mintz brought Pitt’s lead down to four with a 3-pointer. The run continued as nearly two minutes after Mintz’s three, Williams completed a thunderous dunk off a steal before two more free throws from Mintz gave SU a 44-43 lead.

Copeland got in on the offensive fun as well, scoring on two layups. After another SU steal, Copeland scored on a layup. Minutes later, Starling missed a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, but Brown nabbed the rebound before passing to Copeland, who drew a foul.

Copeland made both free throws giving Syracuse a 52-45 lead — the then largest lead of the game for the Orange.

Copeland celebrates in Syracuse’s 81-73 win over Pitt on Dec. 30. Copeland scored a career-high 22 points shooting 4-for-8 from the field while making 13 free throws. Joe Zhao | Asst. Photo Editor

Following another Pitt turnover, Starling lobbed the ball up to Mintz, who scored on a dunk.

Williams and Brown were just as efficient at maintaining the lead, with physical rebounds. Brown even flew into the stands to take back possession off a missed Pitt free throw.

Two minutes later, with Pitt trailing by only one, Copeland swung a pass to Starling, who hit his first 3-pointer of the game from the right wing, extending SU’s lead to four. A minute later, Starling scored on a left-handed layup to increase the lead.

The Panthers weren’t going down quietly, though. Zack Austin hit a 3-pointer and freshman Jaland Lowe hit a clutch layup to keep Syracuse’s lead at four. With five and a half minutes left in the game, Austin hit another clutch 3. And once Ishmael Leggett drove for a layup, Brown got called for goaltending tying the score at 61.

But at this point, the game veered into the wild side, especially with stars like Mintz in foul trouble. With the game tied, Brown and Copeland got the Orange going. Copeland’s bucket in particular caused excitement as he scored an unbelievable 360-spinning layup. He seemed to admire the shot after the play as many in the stands had looks of disbelief.

The crowd got even more excitement after the Williams alley-oop dunk. But Copeland cemented the contest with two free throws to increase his career-high to an eventual 22 points and put Syracuse up 10 points.

“He’s really good,” Autry said of Copeland and his performance. “…Those type of people can play for me.”

Just as it was at the end of the first half in favor of the Panthers, the Orange now had their first conference win in full view up by double digits. Even as Pitt registered two steals in the final minute of play, nearly causing a comeback from the Panthers and frustrating Autry, Syracuse closed out the back-and-forth affair. Autry wasn’t happy with the ending, saying Copeland gave him “stomach aches.” But that was until he made the free throws.

The Orange went up against an opponent that had their number, but they still pulled away with a win.

“They’ve beaten us five out of the last six times, three times in a row in very similar fashion: close game, close game then they break (away) and get ahead,” Autry said. “But I thought our second half was so composed…until the end.”

Published on December 30, 2023 at 2:40 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com