SYRACUSE OVERHWLMES SAN DIEGO STATE IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

In his 46th year of coaching men’s basketball at his alma mater, Jim Boeheim was in for a treat in Friday night‘s opening round of the NCAA tournament when his son, Buddy, came away with a stellar all-around performance in leading 12th-seeded Syracuse to a dominating 78-62 win over 6ih-seeded San Diego State at HInklle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind.

A junior 6-foot-7 guard/forward, Buddy began with a flurry and finished with as he turned in second-straight 30-point game on 7-for-10 marksmanship from behind the arch, and 11-of-15 from the field. His game was so complete, he added seven rebounds and five assists as the Orange also shut down the Mountain West Conference champions (22-5) with its variation of zone defenses. For Syracuse, it advanced to 17-9 and to the second round versus Atlantic Coast Conference foe West Virginia, the 4th seed who disposed of No. 13 Moorhead State, 74-67.

Young Boeheim by tossing in three-straight 3s and scoring the first 11 Orange points. It was close then, but after trailing 18-14 midway through the first half, Syracuse clamped down on defense and holding San Diego State, one of the best outside shooting teams in the country, without a field goal for the rest of the half.

Then, when the Aztecs threatened to cut into their 32-18 halftime deficit, Boeheim took over again, hitting quick 3-pointers from three different positions on the court, one from each far corner, and another a buzzer shot from almost midcourt  with two defenders on him. On defense, the Orange went mostly with its ageless 2-3 zone and San Diego State tried to shoot right over it. The problem was, none were going in. They missed their last 10 of the half and finished 3-for-20 from the 3 over the first 20 minutes.

Boeheim nearly outscored San Diego State by himself as he turned in 16 points in the opening half, two less than the Aztecs. It was the fewest points that the Aztecs’ high-scoring perimeter-minded offense had scoring in a half all season, and their 14-game win streak came to an abrupt halt.

Jordan Schakel, the nation’s third-leading 3-point shooter, scored 17 points, but was 5-for-13 from beyond the arc. Leading scorer Matt Mitchell also tossed in 17 points for San Diego State, while Marek Dolezai added 11 points for Syracuse and six of its payers were able to find the range from from 3-point land.