Onuaku has 14 and Johnson 12; No. 7Syracuse humbles another opponent, 75-51 over St. Francis

No. 7 Syracuse beats St. Francis, 75-51

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Arinze Onuaku had 14 points, Wes Johnson added 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks and No. 7 Syracuse beat St. Francis of New York 75-51 on Sunday.

Syracuse (10-0) was coming off an 85-73 victory over No. 10 Florida, the Orange’s second win this season over a Top 10 team. They took control against the Terriers (3-6) behind a first-half flurry inside by Onuaku and Johnson’s long-range shooting early in the second.

Rick Jackson had 11 points and Mookie Jones 10 for Syracuse.

Akeem Bennett led St. Francis with 15 points, Herman Wrice had 12 and Ricky Cadell added 11, all in the first half. Cadell, the Terriers’ leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, was hurt midway through the second half and never returned.

Syracuse scored the first eight points of the second half and didn’t allow a field goal by St. Francis for the first 6½ minutes of the period to eliminate any doubt about the outcome.

Johnson set up Jackson’s reverse layup and then hit two 3-pointers from the left side, the second giving the Orange a 46-26 lead with 17:17 left.

From there, the Syracuse defense clamped down. The Terriers had two baskets in the first 11½ minutes of the half — Bennett’s 3 at 14:28 and a follow by Wrice 5 minutes later.

Syracuse led 62-35 at that point as the Orange reserves already were seeing plenty of time. St. Francis shot 26.7 percent (8 of 30) and committed 14 turnovers in the second half.

Unlike Syracuse’s previous two opponents in the Carrier Dome, the Terriers stayed close in the opening half as Orange coach Jim Boeheim rotated nine players.

St. Francis, averaging 14.7 turnovers a game, committed only three in the half, held Syracuse to one fast-break basket, and hit six 3-pointers to trail 38-26 at halftime. In its previous two home games, Syracuse led Colgate 47-16 and Maine 60-12 at halftime.

After Cadell hit a 3 from right wing to pull St. Francis within 19-18 at 9:49, the Orange went repeatedly inside to Onuaku, who made five baskets from in close in a 5-minute span. Brandon Triche’s baseline jumper and Onuaku’s lay-in gave Syracuse a 31-21 lead with 4:21 left.

Bennett’s 3 from the right wing narrowed the margin to 31-24 at 3:39, but Syracuse quickly rebuilt its double-digit lead.