SYRACUSE, NY — Judah Mintz scored 21 points and Syracuse cruised to an 88-85 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday after nearly blowing a 29-point lead on “Jim Boeheim Day.”
More than 25,000 fans, as well as friends, family and former players came out to honor Boeheim, who played his second game on the Orange's home court since retiring last season. He was honored at the postgame ceremony. He led the Syracuse program for 47 years (all but one with a winning season) and appeared in 35 NCAA tournaments, including a national championship in 2003.
It looked like it would be a game-long party after Syracuse (18-10, 9-8 ACC) jumped out to a 29-point lead late in the first half only to see Notre Dame (10-17, 5-11 ) recover behind the freshmen. Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry, who combined to score 38 points in the second half. Shrewsberry's sixth 3-pointer with two minutes remaining, followed by another 3-pointer from Julian Roper II a minute later, put the Fighting Irish within 86-83.
With 25 seconds left, Shrewsberry came up short on a 3-point attempt, and Syracuse's Chris Bell made two free throws with 17.3 seconds left. Burton got a quick layup and, after a missed Syracuse free throw, Burton couldn't hit a long 3-point attempt.
Bell scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, Maliq Brown and Notre Dame transfer JJ Starling each scored 14 points and Justin Taylor scored 10 for the Orange, who shot 53.1%.
Burton made 10 of 20 shots with 28 points and eight assists for Notre Dame. Shrewsberry's 18 points came on six 3-pointers in the second half. Tae Davis added 12 points. Notre Dame shot 61.5% and was 12 of 21 from behind the arc with five more three-pointers than the Orange. But Syracuse scored 31 points on 17 turnovers.
Notre Dame scored the first five points of the game before Syracuse went on runs of 24-4 and 17-2. The Irish scored the final nine points of the first half to trail 49-29 and kept the momentum going in the second half only to have a three-game winning streak snapped.
Notre Dame hosts Wake Forest on Tuesday. Syracuse stays home to play Virginia Tech on Tuesday.
