Florida finally didn’t have an answer. After constantly silencing the largest crowd of the season in the Carrier Dome, one failed possession turned the tide Friday against Syracuse.

After Scoop Jardine bailed out the Orange with a floater in the lane with the shot clock inside six seconds, two possession later Erving Walker was stripped on the other end. Jardine nailed a 3 from the left wing to give SU an eight-point lead with 3:54 remaining.

The back-and-forth battle finally swung in Syracuse’s favor, and the No. 4 Orange went on to beat No. 10 Florida 72-68 in front of 24,459 in the Carrier Dome. The largest on-campus crowd in the nation this season helped Syracuse (8-0) turn the focus back to basketball after 16 days of turmoil. Stifling defense against the Gators (5-2) interior players made the Florida offense one-dimensional, and SU kept its perfect record intact.

After a back-and-forth first half, SU surged ahead to open the second and held a narrow lead down to the wire.

Just like the Orange’s first two points of the game, it opened the second half with a dunk from Fab Melo. He cleaned up a missed layup by C.J. Fair to re-energize the crowd.

From there, Syracuse extended its lead to nine the largest of the game.

But a pesky Gators team refused to go away. Cold-blooded 3s from Kenny Boynton and Walker allowed UF to hang around.

After falling behind by nine, Florida surged back on an 11-2 run. But just as the Gators seemed to be gaining momentum, Fair completed a traditional three-point play to put the Orange back in front 44-41.

Every time SU ignited the crowd, the Gators were there to answer. After beginning the game 1-for-5 from 3-point range, Boynton nailed three of his next four.

But beyond the shotmaking by Boynton and Walker, Florida had no offense. The backcourt duo combined for 30 of UF’s first 49 points against the stifling SU zone.

The Orange forced 20 turnovers, poking the ball away as soon as Florida attempted to penetrate into the lane.

The Gators found themselves down 64-57 with 1:25 to go and in need of offense. But as Walker and Boynton looked to get free beyond the arc, Jardine and Brandon Triche extended their defense to suffocate the best two shooters on the floor.

Florida pulled within five at 64-59, but Triche answered right away with a left-handed layup at the rim. Walker finally tried driving into the lane but was swatted by Jardine.

Triche took the ball the other way and was fouled. He converted both free throws to put the game out of reach with 49.1 seconds to go.

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on December 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13