Durham, N.C. – Syracuse (13-7, 3-4 Atlantic Coast) put the finishing touch on Duke’s (14-5, 3-3) first three-game losing streak in nine seasons, beating the No. 20 Blue Devils 64-62 at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday night. Tyler Roberson led Syracuse with 14 points and 20 rebounds, while Michael Gbinije chipped in 14 points and nine assists.

Here are three takeaways from SU’s third consecutive ACC win.

Beast mode

Roberson soared through the air, reached behind his head and slammed home an alley-oop from Gbinije with his left hand. The often reserved forward was anything but with his play in the first half, racking up eight points and nine rebounds on the first 20 minutes to counter seven-footer Marshall Plumlee down low.

The Duke center posted perfect percentages from the field and foul line, and tacked on six rebounds in the first half while the Blue Devils were without forward Amile Jefferson inside. By the first media timeout in the second half, Roberson grabbed seven more rebounds to give him 16 with 16 minutes left.

He finished with 20 boards, 12 of the offensive variety, and accounted for slightly more than 40 percent of Syracuse’s total in SU’s 49-42 rebounding advantage.

No harm, no foul

With 2:21 left in the first half, Gbinije picked up his third foul on a charge call that he didn’t seem to approve of. He sat for the remainder of the opening period but returned to start the second frame. The point guard jumpstarted the SU offense to keep it within striking distance.

He scored twice in the lane and hit a 3 before Trevor Cooney and Malachi Richardson hit back-to-back shots from behind the arc to put Syracuse ahead. Most of the senior’s buckets at the rim were in transition, and his lefty layup while shielding off Brandon Ingram gave the Orange a 47-46 lead with 9:05 to play. Then three possessions later, he took a charge to stifle a Duke offense that scored virtually at will.

With a little more than five minutes left, Gbinije created separation from Ingram and hit a 3 to put Syracuse up eight before pounding his chest on the way back downcourt. Duke cut it down but never took the lead and Gbinije finished with a near double-double.

Quality over quantity

SU has been known to live and die by the 3 but on Monday, it was the quality of deep balls the Orange took that paced it past Duke late. The Blue Devils took 14 more shots from behind the arc than SU, but the Orange made one more.

Cooney led the charge from distance, shooting 4-of-9, and the Orange hit just enough from long range to hand Duke its third loss in a week.

Published on January 18, 2016 at 9:03 pm