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On Friday, Syracuse locked down one of its biggest recruits under Adrian Autry. Kiyan Anthony, the son of SU legend Carmelo Anthony, announced his commitment to the Orange on Carmelo’s web series “7 PM in Brooklyn.”

Anthony is the fourth commit in the class, skyrocketing the Orange to eighth in the nation, according to 247Sports. While Syracuse’s future looks bright, the current product hasn’t looked promising. The Orange barely scraped by Le Moyne and Colgate to start the campaign.

The Orange again narrowly escaped an upset bid again on Saturday. Needing double overtime to secure it, Syracuse (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) defeated Youngstown State (1-2, 0-0 Horizon League) 104-95. SU was led by J.J. Starling’s career-high 38 points and 49 minutes of play, including 31 points across the second half and both overtime periods.

“J.J. Starling, that’s the J.J. Starling that we know,” SU head coach Autry said postgame. “He’s the guy for us. He’s important for us. And he was big time.”

After forcing overtime, the Orange took control and captured their biggest lead of the game at 84-76. However, an 8-0 run from YSU forced a second extra period. In the second overtime, the Penguins took the first lead on a free throw, but Syracuse answered on a corner 3 from Elijah Moore, taking an 89-87 lead. Chris Bell then picked up a loose ball on the next possession and fed Eddie Lampkin Jr. to push the lead to five.

Lampkin got to work inside with two layups and converted on 1-of-2 free throws to push the lead to 96-91 with under two minutes to play. Starling added another layup and Freeman sealed the deal with two free throws.

While it was all Orange at the end — an 18-9 second overtime margin — the Penguins controlled the contest early on, courtesy of EJ Farmer’s 13 first-half points. SU had no answer for the guard as he penetrated inside and elevated multiple times. Syracuse was abysmal offensively, going just 1-of-13 from 3 and appearing to have zero offensive identity.

To end the half, a costly Bell turnover gave Ty Harper a fast break layup. SU’s ensuing possession was atrocious again. The Orange missed two 3s and a mid-range pull-up on the possession, not converting despite three chances.

The final possession wasn’t much better. Syracuse passed the ball around before a long pass brought Starling into the backcourt for a turnover. YSU led by seven at halftime, and SU allowed 38 points to the Penguins — a team that scored 47 total points in its prior game.

“Obviously the defense is a concern,” Autry said. “We got to get better at it.”

Syracuse then battled back, and ran it mostly through Starling. Autry said he saw a look in Starling’s eye, the look of a player ready to take over a game. Starling said he felt the Orange played slow in the first half, and he wanted to turn on the heat.

“It was straight attack mode,” Starling said postgame. “My teammates just trusted me with the rock, and I was able to just make big plays.”

YSU built a lead as large as 42-33 two minutes into the second half, but Syracuse came storming back with two finishes inside.

Trailing by seven five minutes into the second frame, the Orange answered with a 7-0 run to tie the game. Starling — who catalyzed the run with Freeman, combining for the first 21 points of the second half — found nylon on a left-wing 3 to tie it 46-46 at the 13:22 mark. Jason Nelson hit a 3 to retake the lead, but again Starling and Freeman capitalized from beyond the arc, tying it at 49-49. Then, Syracuse took the lead 52-49 on a Freeman 3 from the top of the key.

Minutes later, knotted at 53, SU’s Lucas Taylor fouled Juwan Maxey on a 3-point attempt, putting YSU at the line with just under eight minutes to play. Maxey converted 2-of-3 free throws, taking a two-point lead.

Lampkin worked inside on the next possession and was fouled, knocking down the free throws in the bonus. As both teams traded minutes without converting on a field goal, an ugly display of basketball ensued. Multiple turnovers and missed free throws kept the teams deadlocked.

Lampkin added on as the teams flipped back and forth with the lead. The center finished the game with 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, helping Syracuse finish down the stretch. Entering the final media timeout, YSU led 62-58, with the Orange on the cusp of a loss.

Trailing by four with four minutes to play, Starling came out of the break with a floater to cut the deficit to two. In the double bonus, Jaquan Carlos was fouled following a defensive stop and converted both free throws to tie the game at 62-62. The teams wrestled back and forth in regulation to eventually force overtime, as Starling’s eight points in the final four minutes pushed YSU to the brink.

In the extra period, both teams shared scores before SU made a defensive stop. Starling added to his career-high totals, but the Penguins answered. Under the three-minute mark, Syracuse took control with a Freeman layup, followed by a Carlos steal and breakaway layup, leading 81-77 with 2:30 to play. YSU made a free throw, but an and-one finish from Bell gave SU an eight-point lead with under two minutes to play, its largest lead of the game up until the final score.

Within the run, Starling scored six in the frame, knocking down two mid-range shots despite playing almost the entire game.

“At that point, I wasn’t thinking at all,” Starling said. “I was just taking what the defense was giving me. And at that point I had a rhythm.”

Youngstown State gave another scare with two quick 3s as Carlos missed two free throws. YSU then went down, forced a foul and converted on both to tie the game at 86-86. Starling missed an open look as the buzzer sounded, forcing a second overtime.

In the next period, Lampkin took control while Starling and Freeman finished the job at the charity stripe, pushing SU to victory. The heroics of Starling saved the day and avoided a catastrophic loss.

Though the future is seemingly bright for SU with its recent recruiting news, the reality of a poor start to its second season under Autry set in. Syracuse again narrowly escaped a nonconference clash but have won its first three games by a combined margin of just 15.

“The one thing that we show is, if we get down, we still stay at it. But we just got to improve. We got a lot more to improve on,” Autry said.

Published on November 16, 2024 at 4:12 pm

Contact Aiden at: amstepan@syr.edu | @AidenStepansky