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Dec. 30, 2006

Box Score

SYRACUSE , N.Y. (AP) - Playing nothing like the team it was prior to Christmas, St. Bonaventure had a legitimate chance to knock off Syracuse on Saturday night in the Carrier Dome, but the Orange overcame the Bonnies for an 82-70 win.

Tyler Relph had 19 points for the Bonnies, Michael Lee had 14 points and 10 rebounds, A.J. Hawkins had 14 points and nine rebounds, and seldom-used freshman Jourdan Morris came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points.

Syracuse (11-3) struggled in its first game since dropping out of the national rankings, but the Bonnies (3-10) were a far cry from the team that lost seven straight prior to Christmas.

Morris, St. Bonaventure's only scholarship freshman, scored 11 points in 11 minutes in the first half, going 3-4 from three-point range. He had played just 24 minutes in the previous 12 games and had scored only one point.

Syracuse led only 35-34 at halftime, but Watkins sent the Bonnies reeling as soon as the second half began, scoring nine straight points. He went 3-for-4 from the foul line, followed with his fifth dunk of the game and a lay-in off a pretty pass by Eric Devendorf, and completed the flurry with a resounding one-handed slam off a bounce pass in the lane from Nichols to give the Orange a 44-36 lead at 17:34.

The Bonnies pulled back within 44-41 on a dunk by Hawkins just over a minute later, but the Orange went on an 8-1 spurt to take a 52-42 lead. Consecutive 3-pointers by Devendorf and Demetrius Nichols boosted the Orange lead to 63-51 midway through the period.

The Bonnies pulled within 75-70 on a 3-pointer by Tyler Benson with 59 seconds left, but Nichols converted a follow and Devendorf sank two free throws to secure the victory.

Syracuse led 13-7 after Rautins hit a 3-pointer from the right corner at 14:14, but the Bonnies quickly showed they wouldn't go down without a fight. They scored eight straight points and gained their first lead, 15-13, on a follow by Hawkins at 11:55.

Nichols then led the Orange on a 10-2 run, scoring six points and feeding Matt Gorman for a lay-in to give Syracuse a 30-23 lead with 5:08 left.

Despite making just one of their first seven attempts from beyond the arc, the Bonnies finally got untracked. They hit three straight 3s - two by Relph and the other by Morris - all from the top of the key in a 2:02 span to key an 11-0 surge and give St. Bonaventure a 34-30 lead with 2:38 left.

Nichols has scored 20 or more points in nine of the last 10 games, and Watkins also had eight rebounds and five blocks, Devendorf had 17 points, including 15 in the second half as the rest of the Orange struggled on offense.

Rebounding, which has been a sore spot for the Bonnies of late, was a strength against the bigger Orange. The Bonnies at times controlled the glass and wound up even at 45 rebounds apiece at night's end.

"The job we did on the backboards ... to tie a very talented frontline at 45 and get 15 offensive rebounds to their 10, certainly was a step up for us," said Bonnies coach Anthony Solomon.

"I know they've struggled," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said about the Bonnies. "I thought they played well tonight. I thought they were smart. They were patient. They did a lot of good things tonight."

St. Bonaventure will now return home to the Reilly Center to open Atlantic 10 Conference play. The first of two home games will be on Wed., Jan. 3, when Saint Louis makes its first visit to the RC. Game time is 7:00.