Triche scores 21 and Rautins has 18; Syracuse cruises past Cornell 88-73

Triche leads Orange over Cornell 88-73

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Freshman guard Brandon Triche scored a season-high 21 points, Andy Rautins added 18 and No. 10 Syracuse beat upstate foe Cornell 88-73 on Tuesday night.

It was the 32nd straight win in the series for Syracuse (5-0), but the Orange didn’t settle it until the second half.

Unranked a week ago, the Orange catapulted into the Top 25 after beating then-No. 13 California and then-No. 6 North Carolina by an average score of 91-72. They had a more difficult time early with the Big Red (2-2), who beat Alabama and Massachusetts on the road before losing at home Friday night to Seton Hall.

Chris Wroblewski led Cornell with 20 points, Ryan Wittman had 19, and Jeff Foote 12.

Wes Johnson had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Kris Joseph added 13 points for Syracuse, which won easily despite a subpar game from big men Arinze Onuaku and Rick Jackson. They each scored seven points, but Onuaku only had one rebound in 19 minutes.

Wittman had a career-high 33 points against Syracuse a year ago, including nine 3s, but he had trouble finding any open looks against the Orange’s aggressive zone and finished 3 of 10 from long range.

Syracuse held its first four opponents to 24.1 percent shooting on 3s, but Cornell hit 9 of 19 in the first half, with Wroblewski hitting 5 of 6. He finished with a career-high six 3s, but only one came after the break as the Big Red shot just 22.2 percent (4 of 18) from beyond the arc in the second half and that sealed their fate.

A year ago, Cornell, the two-time defending Ivy League champ, led by as many as 16 in the first half and held a five-point advantage at halftime before falling 88-78. And its patient attack and long-range accuracy kept the Big Red close in this one for a while.

Cornell trailed 42-36 at the half, but Syracuse began the second with a 17-5 spurt, limiting Cornell to just a 3 by Wroblewski and a follow by Foote, to open a 17-point lead.

Triche hit a 3 and converted a three-point play, Rautins hit one of his five 3s, and Jackson added another three-point play to boost the lead to 59-41 at 13:27.