Wes Johnson has 19 points, 13 rebounds, No. 7 Syracuse beats USF 82-65

Johnson paces No. 7 Syracuse over USF, 82-65

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Wes Johnson had 19 points and 13 rebounds, his seventh double-double of the season, and No. 7 Syracuse beat South Florida 82-65 on Sunday.

Syracuse (15-1, 2-1 Big East) used a 16-4 first-half spurt to take control and outscored the Bulls 17-8 over the first 6:09 of the second half to send South Florida (10-5, 0-3) to its 34th Big East road loss in 36 games since joining the conference.

Dominique Jones had a season-high 30 points and Mike Mercer added 13 for South Florida.

The Bulls were coming off a one-point loss Tuesday night at home to Notre Dame, a game that had 13 lead changes and 11 ties. This one wasn’t close. There were three lead changes in the first 4 minutes as the Orange missed six shots.

Brandon Triche converted a layup off an inbounds pass from Andy Rautins to put Syracuse up 6-5 at 15:40 and the Orange never trailed again. Arinze Onuaku’s three-point play at 8:51 sent Syracuse on its game-changing run. The Bulls missed four shots, committed three fouls and had a shot blocked in a span of just over 5 minutes to fall 14 points behind.

The Bulls again played without 6-foot-10 forward Augustus Gilchrist, who was averaging nearly 18.8 points and 7.4 rebounds before severely spraining his right ankle in an early December practice.

Gilchrist’s presence was sorely missed. Rick Jackson had 15 points and Onuaku had 12 as the Orange dominated inside for a 50-34 edge in scoring in the paint. Triche added 10 points and Rautins had eight points and seven assists with no turnovers.

After a follow hook by Jarrid Famous moved the Bulls within 19-17 at 9:09, Onuaku, a woeful 39.4 percent from the free throw line, started the early Orange surge with a left-handed layup and free throw.

Mookie Jones, who had played only 8 minutes in the previous three games, hit a 3 from the right wing just seconds after entering the game. Johnson’s reverse layup made it 35-21 with 3:24 left. Another 3 by Jones in the final minute gave Syracuse a 40-28 halftime lead.

The Bulls, just like almost every team Syracuse has played so far, struggled to find open looks against the Orange’s zone defense.

When Alex Rivas converted his first basket of the season — he missed the first 14 games following surgery to replace metal rods in both legs — his layup came after 11 passes.

The Bulls finished 3 of 18 from beyond the arc and were 22 of 55 (40 percent) overall from the field.