NewsChannel 9 - SU Sports

No. 2 Syracuse 64-61 in OT over No. 12 Georgetown

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:36:59 -0500

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Kris Joseph scored a career-high 29 points, hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute of overtime, and No. 2 Syracuse beat 12th-ranked Georgetown 64-61 on Wednesday night to give coach Jim Boeheim his 880th career win.

Boeheim took sole possession of third place all-time in Division I, one more than North Carolina's Dean Smith, but it wasn't easy against the Orange's rival.

The game was tied at 55 after regulation, and Otto Porter scored the first four points of overtime for the Hoyas, swishing two free throws and hitting a baseline jumper to give Georgetown 61-59 lead with 2:19 left.

Dion Waiters tied it with a pair of free throws for the Orange, and after Porter lost the ball out of bounds at the other end, Scoop Jardine fed Joseph in the left corner, and he buried his career-best sixth 3 of the game with 29 seconds left.

Jardine sealed it by forcing a turnover by Jason Clark with 4.9 seconds to go, allowing Syracuse (24-1, 11-1 Big East) to remain unbeaten at home at 16-0. Georgetown (18-5, 8-4), had won five of six entering the game.

SU, Georgetown renew rivalry tonight at Carrier Dome

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:26:42 -0500

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Tonight, Syracuse University will face traditional rival Georgetown at the Carrier Dome.

Fans have been gearing up for the showdown between two ranked teams for several days, with some students camping out to get fronts row seats.

SU enters the game ranked No.2 in both polls, while the Hoyas are ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press poll and No. 11 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll.

The Orange are 23-1 overall, while Georgetown is 18-4. The Orange is tops in the Big East at 10-3. Georgetown’s conference record is 8-3.

Senior guard Jason Clark leads the Hoyas with 15.4 points per game.

The Orange recently saw the return of sophomore center Fab Melo. He joined the team just in time to help it rout St. John’s at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

More than 26,000 tickets sold for Georgetown game; where to park

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:00:27 -0500

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) -- More than 26,000 tickets have been sold to see old rivals Syracuse and Georgetown go at it in the Dome Wednesday. It will be the biggest weeknight crowd in at least a year.

Students are already lining up, waiting to get in. Remember, the student section is on a first come, first served basis. The first students got in line Friday morning and have been camping out in rotation with some friends ever since.

Students won’t have trouble getting to the game, but if you’re going, it’s best to have an idea where you’re going to park before you actually arrive. It’ll save you time and hassles – unless of course you have a season’s pass.

Without a season's pass you can forget about parking in the lots right around the Dome. That includes the women’s building. Staffers that normally park there during the day don’t have to leave, but the head of parking, Dee Bailey, says it’s a well choreographed dance between daytime parkers and event parkers.

Bailey says the best bet for fans attending a single game is to head right to the Manley Field House lots. It’ll cost you $12, which includes the shuttle to the Dome. Those lots open at 4 p.m. and the first buses will start between 5 and 5:30 p.m.

"You have all those employees and students that park out there and you can tell the buses that are coming in, dropping off the students, they open up the spaces for the patrons, so it's excellent how it all works out,” Bailey said.

The Manley and Skytop lots fit about 2,000 cars for football, so those wanting to see the Orange take on Georgetown will have plenty of room for parking.

SU ranked No. 2 in both polls

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:41:40 -0500

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – The Syracuse University men’s basketball team remained locked in the No. 2 spot in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls on Monday.

Over the weekend, the Orange soundly defeated St. John’s 95-70 at Madison Square Garden after getting sophomore center Fab Melo back in the line-up.

Kentucky, however, held onto its top spot. The Wildcats trounced South Carolina 86-52 in Columbia.

SU hosts Georgetown Wednesday night at the Carrier Dome.

In both polls, Ohio State, Missouri, and North Carolina rounded out the top five.

AP Poll
1. Kentucky (63) 23-1
2. Syracuse (2) 23-1
3. Ohio St. 20-3
4. Missouri 21-2
5. North Carolina 20-3
6. Baylor 21-2
7. Kansas 18-5
8. Florida 19-4
9. Murray St. 23-0
10. Duke 19-4
11. Michigan St. 18-5
12. Georgetown 18-4
13. San Diego St. 20-3
14. UNLV 21-4
15. Florida St. 16-6
16. Saint Mary's (Cal) 22-2
17. Creighton 21-3
18. Marquette 19-5
19. Virginia 18-4
20. Mississippi St. 18-5
21. Wisconsin 18-6
22. Michigan 17-7
23. Indiana 18-6
24. Louisville 18-5
25. Harvard 20-2

Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 83, Iowa St. 71, Southern
Miss. 51, Temple 41, Gonzaga 35, Wichita St. 31, Long Beach St. 6,
New Mexico 5, Kansas St. 3, Cleveland St. 2, Iona 2, Vanderbilt 2,
BYU 1, Miami 1.

ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll

1. Kentucky (31) 23-1
2. Syracuse 23-1
3. Ohio St. 20-3
4. Missouri 21-2
5. North Carolina 20-3
6. Baylor 21-2
7. Florida 19-4
7. Murray St. 23-0
9. Duke 19-4
10. Kansas 18-5
11. Georgetown 18-4
12. Michigan St. 18-5
13. Saint Mary's (Cal) 22-2
14. San Diego St. 20-3
15. Creighton 21-3
16. UNLV 21-4
17. Florida St. 16-6
18. Mississippi St. 18-5
19. Marquette 19-5
20. Virginia 18-4
21. Harvard 20-2
22. Wisconsin 18-6
23. Indiana 18-6
23. Louisville 18-5
25. Michigan 17-7

Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 19, Gonzaga 14, New Mexico 13, Iowa State 10, Nevada 9, Southern Miss 9, Long Beach State 8, Middle Tennessee 6, Connecticut 6, Temple 6, Vanderbilt 5, California 5, Wichita State 5, Virginia Commonwealth 2, Saint Louis 2, Cleveland State 1, Drexel 1

No. 2 Syracuse crushes St. John's 95-70

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:47:37 -0500

NEW YORK (AP) - Fab Melo scored a career-high 14 points in his return after a three-game absence and Jim Boeheim tied Dean Smith for third place on the victory list with win No. 879 as No. 2 Syracuse dominated St. John's 95-70 on Saturday.

Syracuse (23-1, 10-1 Big East) rallied behind the return of the 7-foot Melo, taking a 41-27 halftime lead and blowing it open by starting the second half on a 16-3 run in front of a sellout crowd of 19,979 at Madison Square Garden, most of whom were wearing orange.

Melo missed the last three games as he resolved an academic issue. He had been allowed to practice with the team and he looked ready from the start of his first game back, once again a force in the middle on the back line of the 2-3 zone.

Dion Waiters and C.J. Fair both had 14 points for the Orange, whose only loss this season was at Notre Dame in the first game of the three Melo missed. Kris Joseph and Michael Carter-Williams had 13 points each for Syracuse, which shot 55.7 percent (39 for 70) from the field.

After tying Smith, the longtime coach at North Carolina, Boeheim trails only fellow Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski (919) and Bob Knight (902) on the career wins list.

Boeheim and Syracuse have continued to win despite a tumultuous stretch for the program. Bernie Fine, his assistant for more than 35 years, was fired three games into the season after two former ball boys accused him of sexually molesting them when they were young.

It was the Orange's seventh straight win over the Red Storm and the 13th in their last 14 meetings.

D'Angelo Harrison had 23 points for the Red Storm (10-13, 4-7), who dropped to 0-9 this season against ranked teams. They had four wins last season over top-10 teams. Moe Harkless added 15 points and Phil Greene had 14.

Melo started the run to open the second half with a basket and added a dunk and two free throws as the Orange took a 57-30 lead with 14:31 to play.
Carter-Williams had a breakaway dunk, and after a turnover by St. John's, Waiters had another breakaway jam. As the Red Storm called a 30-second timeout with 9:16 left, the Orange players were all raising their arms, encouraging the crowd to raise the noise level. They did.

It would have been the fourth straight game St. John's started five freshmen - the "Fresh Five" - but Harrison didn't start because he was late for the team bus. He was in the game within the first 3 minutes.

Harrison had a career-high 29 points against DePaul in the Red Storm's previous game.

It was St. John's worst loss of the season. Georgetown beat the Red Storm 69-49 last month, also at Madison Square Garden. St. John's dropped to 2-6 at Madison Square Garden this season.

ACC scheduling plans expanded to include SU, Pitt

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:37:29 -0500

Syracuse (WSYR-TV/AP) – The Atlantic Coast Conference revealed its scheduling plans for the arrival of Syracuse University and Pitt into the conference.

Each team in the conference will play a nine-game schedule in football and every team will compete in the ACC basketball tournament.

It is still unclear when the two schools will enter the conference since their current conference, the Big East, requires a 27-month notice for a school to leave.

Although they could not vote since they are not full-fledged members yet, SU and Pitt both participated in the decision-making process, according to the ACC.

Once they have entered, SU will be in the Atlantic Division and Pitt will join the Coastal Division. The two will be cross-division partners, meaning they will play every year.

In basketball, the league set up partners that will play each year. SU will play Boston College twice every year, while Pitt will play Maryland twice each year.

The ACC's full announcement:

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (theACC.com) - Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced today the future scheduling formats as approved by the ACC's Faculty Athletic Representatives and Athletics Directors.
The announcement was made following the annual ACC Winter Meetings and will go in effect once Pittsburgh and Syracuse become playing members in the conference.

"We have been engaged in discussions on the various options for integrating Pitt and Syracuse since early fall," said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. "It's a tremendous tribute to the leadership at our schools that we will be able to seamlessly add Pitt and Syracuse at the appropriate time when they become full playing members."

A breakdown of the future scheduling models include:

Football:

The Atlantic and Coastal divisions will remain the same with Syracuse joining the Atlantic and Pitt joining the Coastal. The current primary crossover partners will remain consistent with Syracuse and Pitt becoming primary crossover partners with each other.

When Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC, the league will play a nine-game conference schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its division each year, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division. This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional opponent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away).

Men's and Women's Basketball:

As previously announced, the ACC will play an 18-game conference schedule beginning in 2012-13.
When Pitt and Syracuse join, each school will have one primary partner (Boston College and Syracuse; Clemson and Georgia Tech; Duke and North Carolina; Florida State and Miami; Maryland and Pitt; NC State and Wake Forest; Virginia and Virginia Tech).

The scheduling model will be based on a three-year cycle during which teams will play every league opponent at least once with the primary partners playing home and away annually while the other 12 rotate in groups of four: one year both home and away; one year at home only; and one year away only. Over the course of the three-year cycle primary partners play a total of six times and all other conference opponents play four times.

The format allows each program to see opponents with more regularity and creates an increase in competitive balance throughout the teams. It was determined that all 14 league members will continue to compete in the ACC Men's and Women's Tournaments and a decision on the Tournament formats will be announced at a later date.

Olympic Sports:

All team sports will continue to play each conference team at least once during the regular season. Baseball is the only exception as they currently don't play all conference opponents.

The league will continue to sponsor an ACC Championship event in all sports. The only exception will be volleyball, which will continue to recognize its champion from regular-season play.

The conference will sponsor an ACC Championship in the sport of gymnastics. There are currently three institutions that sponsor gymnastics (Maryland, North Carolina and NC State) and with the addition of Pitt, the ACC will have four programs, the necessary number in the league's bylaws to host a conference championship. The ACC previously sponsored a conference championship in gymnastics in 1984.

Former teammate fondly recalls Giants head coach

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:56:02 -0500

Baldwinsville (WSYR-TV) - Kick-off for the Super Bowl is only a few days away and New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin knows his former Syracuse University football teammates – among many others – will be pulling for him on Sunday.

One of those former teammates is Pat Killorin, who played with Coughlin on the 1965 team.

Killorin not only blocked for Coughlin, he also played with SU legends Larry Csonka and Floyd Little, becoming a two-time All-American center himself. While he didn’t get many carries, Coughlin found other ways to help the team, blocking and catching passes out of the backfield.

“He was a student of the game – very intense,” Killorin said. “He was one of those athletes – first on the field and one of the last ones to come off the field of practice.”

Killorin said Coughlin was equally as dedicated to his studies in the classroom as he was to football.

“You just had the feeling about Tom he was going to be successful in his future because of the fact that he cared about not only how he developed himself, but the people around him, how they developed,” said Killorin.

Underneath the intense, focused football coach veneer, Killorin said Coughlin is a very compassionate and caring man. A Hospice Family caregiver, Killorin reached out to Coughlin for a signed picture to give to a longtime Giants fan.

“By gosh, about one week later, I got it and it made the day for this fellow…it was just a great thing for him,” Killorin said.

Killorin says it’s just one example of the type of guy Coughlin is – a side most don’t get to see.

SU confirms Fab Melo will return

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:30:00 -0500

Syracuse (WSYR-TV/AP) – The Syracuse University Athletics Department confirmed on Thursday morning that center Fab Melo will return to the team’s roster.

A spokesperson for the department said that Melo will return in time for the Orange’s game against St. John’s in Madison Square Garden.

The spokesperson said that school policy and federal student privacy laws prohibited the school from commenting further on the matter.

The 7-foot sophomore sat out the past three games, at Notre Dame and Cincinnati and at home against West Virginia on Saturday while resolving an academic issue. Melo is averaging 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and leads the second-ranked Orange with 60 blocked shots.

Syracuse (22-1, 9-1 Big East) went 2-1 without Melo in the lineup, suffering its lone loss to the Irish on Jan. 21.

Melo had continued practicing with the team during his academic suspension. In his absence, freshman Rakeem Christmas started at center and sophomore forward C.J. Fair moved into the starting lineup for the first time.

Fab Melo’s return rumored online
Feb. 1, 2012

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) -- Syracuse University tells NewsChannel 9 that Fab Melo’s eligibility has not changed. However, several sources, including “The Juice Online” is reporting that the sophomore will play on Saturday at St. John’s.

Melo also tweeted at Scoop Jardine Wednesday afternoon that “Lob City is back.”

Melo’s missed three straight games since being suspended due to an academic issue in his first semester.

The Orange is two and one without Melo, who’s averaged just over seven points and almost three blocks per game.

Saturday’s game starts at noon.

SU lacrosse player accused in police chase appears in court

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:12:38 -0500

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - A Syracuse University lacrosse player was back in city court on Wednesday afternoon, where he spoke publicly for the first time about his drinking problem.

Kevin Drew faces a laundry list of charges after an officer saw him crash into a parked car last year in the University Hill area.

His charges include driving while intoxicated, failure to comply with police orders, speeding, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Police say the car Drew was driving was registered to SU men’s lacrosse coach John Desko.

Drew’s attorney, Gary Sommer, requested an adjournment, which was granted by Judge Vanessa Bogan on Wednesday afternoon.

The adjournment will give the District Attorney’s Office more time to potentially reach some sort of resolution.

On Oct. 24, police say Drew was driving drunk when he struck the car and took off with an officer in pursuit. After a brief chase, Drew pulled over but refused to cooperate. Finally, an officer kicked him to the ground.

Drew told the judge he hadn’t drank in 100 days since the Oct. 24 incident. He also underwent a voluntary 28-day inpatient program. Sommer told the judge that Drew was different from other young adults he has represented.

"Obviously there's an issue he had with alcohol,” Sommer said. “I won't get into great detail about that. But he has probably dealt with it in the most aggressive and positive way that I've seen a student do in all my years."

The preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for March 20. In the meantime, he has been reinstated to Syracuse University and is back practicing with the lacrosse team. Desko says that Drew has been punished and is continuing to pay the consequences.

SU football announces 2012 signees

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:59:58 -0500

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – The Syracuse University football team announced its 2012 National Letter of Intent Signing Class on Wednesday afternoon.

The highlights of the group included defensive back Wayne Morgan of Erasmus Hall Campus in Brooklyn, as well as tight end Ron Thompson of Southfield, Mich.

Morgan had been recruited by UConn, Penn State, Wisconsin, and West Virginia before deciding to play for the Orange. SU snatched Thompson away from Maryland, Michigan, and Illinois.

Locally, Christian Brothers Academy offensive lineman Ben Barrett selected the Orange.

Another Upstate star on the Orange’s list of signees was Ashton Broyld, a former New York State Class AA player of the year as a quarterback at Rush-Henrietta High School in the Rochester area. Broyld attended the Milford Academy before committing to SU.

Complete list:

Barrett, Ben OL 6-5 255 Manlius, N.Y./Christan Brothers Academy
Broyld, Ashton * QB 6-4 229 Henrietta, N.Y./Rush Henrietta/Milford Academy
Coleman, Marcus DT 6-3 275 Voorhees, N.J./Camden Catholic
Cornelius, Alvin WR 6-2 190 Staten Island, N.Y.
Davis, Myles * FB 6-2 232 Verona, Pa./Penn Hills/Milford Academy
Emerich, Jason OL 6-4 275 New Ringgold, Pa./Blue Mountain
Ford, Dontez DB 6-2 190 McKees Rocks, Pa./Sto-Rox
Hilliard, Myles DE 6-5 250 Oakwood Village, Ohio/Bedford
Jones, Zian DT 6-5 310 Los Angeles, CA/Eagle Rock/West Los Angeles Community College
Knapp, Kyle OL 6-4 265 Kalamazoo, Mich./Portage Central
Lewis, Ben WR 6-3 194 Middletown, Md./Middletown
Manley, Josh DE 6-3 245 College Park, Ga./Milton
McFarlane, Devante ATH 6-1 190 Wheatley Heights, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills West
Morgan, Wayne DB 5-11 191 Brooklyn, N.Y./Erasmus Hall Campus
Morris, George RB 6-1 192 Lawrenceville, Ga./Central Gwinnett
Norton, Ryan K 5-11 170 Garden City, N.Y./Garden City
Palmer, Omari OL 6-3 300 Coram, N.Y./Longwood
Parris, Josh TE 6-3 240 Stone Mountain, Ga./Stephenson
Pierce-Brewster, Markus DE 6-3 230 National City, Calif./City College of San Francisco
Thompson, Ron TE 6-4 225 Southfi eld, Mich./Southfi eld
Washington, James LB 6-3 225 Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park
Whigham, Julian DB 6-1 175 West Palm Beach, Fla./Dwyer

* indicates enrolled in Syracuse University in January 2012