Wes Johnson scores 19, leads No. 8 Syracuse past Colgate 92-58

Johnson leads No. 8 Syracuse over Colgate 92-58

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Wes Johnson scored 19 points, Andy Rautins hit three 3-pointers to help key an early surge and No. 8 Syracuse beat Colgate 92-58 on Monday night.

It was the 162nd meeting between the teams, and Syracuse (7-0) leads 117-45, including 44 wins in a row.

Colgate (0-6) lost to No. 14 Connecticut 77-63 in the NIT Season Tip-Off — the Huskies led by just a point at halftime — and was coming off a 66-65 home loss to St. Francis on Saturday, beaten on a last-second shot. But the Raiders were outclassed from the opening tip in this one.

Johnson hit a pair of 3s and Rautins drained three more in the first 6:31. That gave him 205 career 3-pointers, tied with Demetris Nichols for fourth place at Syracuse, three behind Eric Devendorf.

Mitch Rolls, Kyle Roemer and Yaw Gyawu led Colgate with eight points apiece. Roemer, the Raiders’ leading scorer, was averaging 18.4 points.

Johnson also had a game-high nine rebounds and five assists. Rautins finished with nine points, eight assists and four steals.

In the first half, Syracuse committed just three turnovers but did not give up a point on any of them while scoring 18 off Colgate’s 10 turnovers and getting 15 fast-break points to zero for the Raiders.

The undersized Raiders trailed 47-16 at halftime, five points off Syracuse’s school record for fewest points allowed in a half. The Orange allowed 11 in the first half of a 60-43 win over Princeton in 1999.

Syracuse entered the game averaging an impressive 40.5 percent on 3-pointers and built a 13-point lead in just more than 4 minutes of play on their long-range shooting.

The Orange hit five of their first six attempts from beyond the arc. In between, Johnson fed Rick Jackson for a hook in the lane, Brandon Triche converted a layup off a steal by Johnson, and Arinze Onuaku slammed home a two-handed dunk.

Rautins made a perfect lob to Johnson for a resounding one-handed slam for a 22-10 edge at 14:12. Colgate was held without a basket for nearly nine minutes as the Orange closed the half with a 25-6 spurt.