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The run was because of the defense. Five consecutive stops — two Canisius turnovers and a Maliq Brown block in between — fueled the 14-0 spurt that changed the course of the game.

And Judah Mintz did the rest, converting a 4-point play and two 3-point plays for the first 10 points of the run. The Orange, once up by only six with 13 minutes left, were now up 68-48.

Syracuse’s (2-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) run in the middle of the second half created enough separation for the Orange to defeat Canisius (0-1, 0-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) 89-77. J.J. Starling bounced back from a sluggish shooting performance last outing, Justin Taylor remained consistent and Mintz’s second consecutive 20-plus point games to start the season.

“I thought we had a really good defensive run in the second half,” head coach Adrian Autry said. “I thought that opened up the game for us and so again, just glimpses here and there, we just got to put it together as a whole.”

Starling found an open Mintz at the top of the key. Mintz swished the 3-pointer, drawing a foul and making the free throw. Then, Mintz went coast-to-coast off of a steal for a layup, notching another and-one. And after the ensuing timeout, he converted the 3-point play. Mintz finished with 26 points on the night, 17 of which came in the second half.

Mintz said he was a little more passive in the first half, taking what the defense gave him. He recorded two of his four assists in the first frame but was more focused on staying solid defensively, he said. Autry said Mintz had “found his rhythm.”

“When my opportunities came, I took them,” Mintz said.

On Mintz’s first basket of a solo 10-0 run in the second half, Starling assisted the play before following up with a contested layup of his own later. Starling was aggressive, getting to the free-throw line four separate times, three of which came after drawing the foul on a made field-goal.

To start the second half, Naheem McLeod corralled one of his nine rebounds of the game and swung an outlet pass upcourt to Starling. The shooting guard caught out Canisius’ Siem Uijtendaal by driving past him for the east two. It was much a improved performance compared to Monday, where Starling went just 3-of-13 from the field in the win. He finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, including an alley-oop pass to Brown for an emphatic dunk in the game’s waning minutes.

“I’m just looking to be aggressive,” Starling said. “Last game was probably one of my worst shooting performances, but at the same time, that’s not gonna change my mentality because at the end of the day, my job is to get downhill, make plays, score, so that’s what I did.”

Canisius still managed to linger. It heaved deep 3-pointers in the second half to counteract the run, making 10-of-22 for the night — eight of which came in the final 14 minutes. Autry said the 3-point defense needed to be better, but that some of their makes were “tough.”

The Golden Griffins found success down low, keeping the game close in the opening half, trailing just 41-32 at the midway point. They made just two 3-pointers in the first half at a 22% clip, but found ways to get the ball in the paint, past the Orange’s man defense. Syracuse, once every so often, would switch to the 2-3 zone, but it mostly stayed in man.

Forward Frank Mitchell made a pair of consecutive baskets down low while forward Bryce Okpoh went a perfect 3-for-3 from the field inside in the first half for Canisius. The Golden Griffins could’ve been level with Syracuse if it wasn’t for their poor performance from the charity stripe, going 5-of-17 from the line.

“It was our job to lock in defensively,” Taylor said. “That run definitely propelled us, gave us some momentum and we got the ball in transition, played good defense. That was huge for us.”

Syracuse still had some small struggles, including shots from beyond the arc. Though the Orange improved, shooting 36.8% from deep compared to under 24% on Monday, their deep attempts seemed forced at times. SU missed its first three shots from range, including an airball from Chris Bell, who finished 2-of-6 from 3.

Yet, Syracuse cashed in on triples when it needed to. Bell, who was one of four double-digit scorers with 13, redeemed himself with a left-wing make, preceded by a Taylor swish from deep in the left corner within a span of 70 seconds in the first half.

Most of SU’s success came from aggression in the paint, notching 52 of its 89 points from inside. Quadir Copeland possessed the ball on the right wing, matched up against Youri Fritz in the Golden Griffins’ man-to-man defense. Initially driving left, Copeland crossed over to his right, garnering enough separation to drive in for an easy slam.

Brown held the ball at the top of the key, eyes peeled for some movement. Mintz, positioned on the left wing, freed himself from Staveskie on a backdoor cut. Brown fed Mintz quickly for a layup.

Taylor also continued his efficient shooting for Syracuse, coming off a 14-point performance versus New Hampshire. Against Canisius, he finished with a game-high 38 minutes, displaying a balance of perimeter shots and drives.

Receiving the ball from Bell on the wing, Taylor drove past his defender for an easy 2. Then in the second half, he absorbed the contact on a drive to his left, scoring the basket off the glass.

“I hit a couple of shots and (was) just trying to be more aggressive, attacking the basket. My shot wasn’t long,” Taylor said.

Following Taylor’s make, the momentum had switched in Syracuse’s favor. Staveskie had canned a couple of triples but Mintz then went on his run, which put the Golden Griffins too far behind. Taylor hit a mid-range jumper to extend SU’s lead and Canisius head coach Reggie Witherspoon burned a couple more of his timeouts.

Unlike Monday, where the Orange got off to a hot start in the first half but slowed in the second, Syracuse utilized a strong second-half run to improve to 2-0.

Canisius’ Cam Palesse had a strong up-and-under to trim the once 20-point deficit to 13, but Bell responded with his second triple of the evening and a put-back lay-in to keep the Golden Griffins at bay.

“We’re not playing offensively the way we want to and we’re still putting up 80-85 points and things like that,” Autry said. “Offense is not the problem right now. It’s really more of us getting back to playing defensive and rebounding.”

Published on November 8, 2023 at 9:41 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini