No. 21 Syracuse roughs up Washington

NEW YORK – Syracuse rebounded from its first loss of the season despite being outrebounded by a wide margin.

“Hey, that happens when they send five guys to the boards every play,” freshman forward Donte Greene said after scoring 25 points in the 21st-ranked Orange’s 91-85 victory over Washington on Friday in the third-place game of the NIT Season Tip-Off. “We only had three guys back there but how aggressive they were got them in some foul trouble and we were able to get the guards going on the break and played some good defense.”

Syracuse overcame some poor free-throw shooting over the final two minutes to hold on for the win at Madison Square Garden. That and Washington’s 54-31 advantage on the boards would make it seem unlikely the Orange would come up with a win two days after struggling from the field in a 79-65 semifinal loss to Ohio State.

The Orange (4-1) were able to hold a double-figure lead for most of the second half thanks to their defense. Syracuse had 12 steals in forcing 21 turnovers and the Orange converted many of those into transition baskets.

Greene, who had seven rebounds and three blocks against Washington, had 21 points and 10 rebounds against Ohio State.

Eric Devendorf had 18 points and Jonny Flynn added 16 for Syracuse, which finished 34 for 52 from the free-throw line (65.4 percent). The Orange went 5 for 12 from the line over the final 2:09 as Washington (3-2) was able to get as close as 88-85 with 24 seconds to play.

Flynn, Arinze Onuaku and Paul Harris each went 1 for 2 from the line after that and the Huskies missed 3-point attempts on both of their possessions.

Quincy Pondexter had 20 points and 15 rebounds for Washington, while Justin Dentmon scored 16 points.

“We really just focused on rebounding. We felt if we won the rebounding we had a chance to win the game,” Pondexter said. “So I just came out and did the best I could on the boards, especially with (Jon Brockman) in foul trouble.”

Pondexter was one of three who fouled out for the Huskies, who had 35 fouls called compared to 17 against Syracuse.

“Syracuse is an uptempo team. we’re an uptempo team,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said when asked about the disparity in foul calls. “Both teams still scored 85-plus points in spite of it but there were a lot of free throws that were shot tonight.”

Washington lost 77-63 to No. 15 Texas A&M in its semifinal.

“I learned a lot from our team and I’m encouraged,” Romar said. “I think that the things we didn’t do well to allow us to win the game are fixable.”

(16) Texas A&M 70, Ohio St. 47: At New York, Derrick Roland scored a career-high 15 points and the Aggies (6-0) beat the Buckeyes (3-1) in the championship of the NIT Season Tip-Off.