The Syracuse Orangemen arrived in The Bahamas this week unranked and, according to some of their players, unappreciated. They leave the island still undefeated, and in possession of the Battle 4 Atlantis championship trophy.
Syracuse sank 11-of-25 of their 3-point attempts and used a late 11-2 run to break open a tie game and defeat 25th-ranked Texas A&M 74-67 on Friday in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game.
“I don’t think we’ve ever gone to a tournament where we’ve been the underdog in two straight games,” said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim, whose team beat No. 18 Connecticut in Thursday’s semifinals. “This might be one of our better wins. These guys really played hard and we had to play huge minutes three days in a row. We were better at the end of games, so it says a lot about their character and their toughness.”
It was another sensational shooting performance by the Orangemen (6-0), who went a combined 34-of-73 (46.6 percent) from 3-point range in the three games at Atlantis.
Tournament MVP Michael Gbinije led the way for Syracuse against A&M (6-1), sinking four 3-pointers and scoring 20 points.
“We had trouble guarding in the second half, off the bounce” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “I thought our guys fought hard, but we missed a lot of layups around the basket. The advantage we had was on the inside and we weren’t able to take advantage of it enough, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort.”
Gbinije was far from a one-man show for Syracuse. Malachi Richardson scored 16 points and grabbed three rebounds, Trevor Cooney had 15 points and five assists, and Tyler Landon provided 13 points and eight boards off the bench. Those four players combined to account for 64 of the Orangemen’s 74 points, all 11 of their 3-pointers, 15 of 31 rebounds and 11 of 12 assists.
“We made 3s early. So they would have to come up and cover us, and we were able to get in the lane and make plays,” Cooney said. “That’s what have to continue to do.”
There were 12 lead changes and nine ties through the first 34 minutes of the game. The Orangemen finally pulled away in the final six minutes, sparked by 3-pointers from Gbinije and Lydon that gave Syracuse a 67-63 lead.
A&M, which entered the game ranked seventh in the nation in made 3-pointers at 45 percent, connected on just 30 percent (6-of-20) against Syracuse. Jalen Jones scored a game-high 23 points for the Aggies.
Joining Gbinije on the 2015 Battle 4 Atlantis All-Tournament Team were Syracuse teammate Trevor Cooney, Jones and Danuel House for Texas A&M, and Gonzaga’s Kyle Wiltjer.
