Despite foul trouble and a key injury, the Syracuse Orange (5-0,0-0) is still undefeated after their 70-61 win over the Toledo Rockets (3-1, 0-1).
Toledo hung in the game early with the 3 point shot, hitting 7 triples in the first half. The Orange were led by the trio of Tyus Battle, Frank Howard, and towards the end of the half, freshman forward Oshae Brissett.
Center Paschal Chukwu picked up two early fouls, forcing him to sit in favor of 6'10'' freshman Bourama Sidibe. Chukwu would foul out, as did Sidibe, forcing coach Jim Boeheim to play freshman Marek Dolezaj at center.
Early in the second half, 'Cuse's leading scorer Tyus Battle took a hard fall on his back. Battle attempted to fight through the pain, staying in the game. Moments later, the guard grimaced in pain after coming down from a jump shot, and left the game soon after.
Howard and Brissett continuted to carry the team after Battle went out. The junior guard Howard set a career high for the second straight night with 25 points. He took a team-high 20 shots in 40 minutes. Oshae Brissett put up 17 points and collected 14 rebounds.
Maybe the biggest surprise of the game was redshirt freshman Matthew Moyer, who played well for 25 minutes of game time. Moyer played hard defense and put up 11 points, 8 of them in the second half.
Toledo was averaging 86 points per game before Syracuse held them to 64. The Orange meanwhile have scored more than 70 points in each of their five games.
Syracuse takes the court next against Maryland (5-0,0-0) as a part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.