Syracuse freshman swats away Gonzaga’s Final Four hopes
Two weeks before the NCAA tournament began, Gonzaga and Syracuse didn’t know if they would have a spot in the field. They met Friday night in Chicago in the Sweet 16 and now Syracuse is one of only eight teams remaining with a shot at the national title.
Freshman Tyler Lydon stepped up in the lane and blocked a shot from Gonzaga guard Josh Perkins in the closing seconds and then made two free throws on the other end to preserve the 63-60 victory for the 10th-seeded Orange, who will play top-seeded Virginia on Sunday.
Lydon’s block, his sixth of the game, might have also helped avoid controversy. Moments before the play, Trevor Cooney stepped in front of a pass along the baseline and stole the ball away with 11.2 seconds remaining and Syracuse holding a one-point lead. But the official out beyond the 3-point line ran in and said Cooney had stepped on the baseline, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs for a final possession and a potential game-winner.
Replays showed Cooney never touched the baseline, but officials didn’t overturn the call after reviewing it. If Gonzaga had made a shot or free throws in those final seconds, the call would have been debated for years.
While Lydon made the final defensive play that led to the win, junior forward Tyler Roberson came up big a minute earlier, keeping alive two different possessions that led to the decisive points for Syracuse.
Roberson scored nine points in the game but grabbed 12 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end. His long reach helped teammate Michael Gbinije grab an offensive rebound off his miss and give the Orange a one-point lead with 22 seconds left.
Gbinije scored 20 points to lead Syracuse and Cooney added 15.
[Georgia Tech made the correct choice firing Brian Gregory]
In early NCAA tournament games, Gonzaga had been balanced, getting plenty of scoring help from the backcourt and not relying too heavily on big men Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis.
But Gonzaga’s guards didn’t do much offensively against the Orange and it was left up to Wiltjer and Sabonis, who almost pushed their team to the Elite Eight despite the lack of offensive production elsewhere. Wiltjer made nine of 17 shots for 23 points and Sabonis scored 19 with 17 rebounds.
Syracuse lost five of its final six games heading into the NCAA tournament and had only three wins over ranked teams during the regular season. The Orange also played nine games without coach Jim Boeheim, who was out serving an NCAA suspension because of infractions in his program. But the Orange are now one win away from a trip to the Final Four.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
