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First Posted: 2/5/2013
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — C.J. Fair had 18 points and 10 rebounds, freshman Jerami Grant scored a season-high 14 points, and No. 9 Syracuse beat No. 25 Notre Dame 63-47 on Monday night to snap a two-game losing streak that had dropped the Orange three spots in the rankings.
Syracuse (19-3, 7-2 Big East) was coming off consecutive road losses against Villanova and Pitt and has only three conference losses in its last 32 Big East games. The Orange have now won a school-record 36 straight games at home, the longest active streak in Division I.
Notre Dame (18-5, 6-4) had won three straight.
It was the first meeting between the teams since the Irish handed Syracuse its only conference loss last season, 67-58 at Purcell Pavilion last January.
The Orange were without senior James Southerland, the team’s most consistent outside threat and third-leading scorer, missed his sixth straight game because of an eligibility matter related to academics. Southerland had 15 points in the loss to the Irish last year.
On this night, it didn’t matter as the Syracuse defense clamped down. Notre Dame finished 6 of 20 on 3-pointers and shot 34.6 percent (18 of 52) for the game as the Orange outrebounded the Irish 32-28 and blocked seven shots. It matched the season low for points for the Irish, who were held to 47 in a home loss two weeks ago to Georgetown.
Rakeem Christmas had 12 points and four blocks and Michael Carter-Williams had five points, eight assists and three steals for Syracuse.
Jerian Grant, Jerami’s brother, finished with 15 points and Jack Cooley had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his 15th double-double of the season for the Irish. The game was the first in college between the Grant brothers.
The Irish fell behind 41-28 midway through the second half as the Orange put together a 13-4 spurt spanning halftime to assume control.
The Irish found few openings in the interior of the Syracuse 2-3 zone in the opening half and the Orange struck quickly, scoring the first 10 points of the game while forcing three turnovers as the Irish missed their first four shots.