Nijel Pack made five 3-pointers — some of them from several feet beyond the line — and Norchad Omier had a double-double as the 17th-ranked Miami Hurricanes defeated the visiting Syracuse Orange 82-78 in an ACC game on Monday night.
Miami (15-3, 6-2 ACC) rallied from an 11-point, second-half deficit and improved to 11-0 at home this season.
Syracuse (12-7, 5-3) had a chance to tie the score with 10.7 seconds left. Freshman point guard Judah Mintz drove the lane but his driving layup was stuffed by Omier, who finished with 16 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. He was then fouled and made two key free throws.
Jesse Edwards had a game-high and career-high 25 points with 11 rebounds for Syracuse. Joe Girard III added 21 points despite making just 1 of 8 on 3-point attempts. He did a lot of damage in the post, however, adding five assists.
Syracuse is 9-3 in its past 12 games, but the Orange have lost three straight games to Miami.
Omier picked up his ninth double-double of the season and his third straight. Miami’s Harlond Beverly had 16 points off the bench, and Pack had 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting from deep.
Jordan Miller added 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Isaiah Wong, Miami’s leading scorer on the season, was held to nine points on 1-for-8 shooting.
Early on, Miami raced to an 11-2 start, but Syracuse rallied to take its first lead at 26-24 on Justin Taylor’s corner 3-pointer with 5:30 left in the first half. The Orange led for the rest of the half and had a 38-34 advantage at intermission.
Girard, despite measuring at just 6-1, had eight points in the first half on three post-ups, victimizing Bensley Joseph twice and Pack once.
In the second half, Syracuse stretched its lead to 55-44 on an Edwards dunk with 14:44 left.
Miami took its first lead of the second half at 71-70 on a Beverly dunk with 3:46 left. Syracuse called timeout to try to slow Miami, which at that point was on an 8-2 run that also featured 3-pointers by Pack and Wooga Poplar. Pack also had the hit-ahead pass to free Beverly for his dunk.
–Field Level Media