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Syracuse beats WVU; Boeheim gets 850th win

Feb 15, 2011 - 4:07 AM Syracuse, NY (Sports Network) - Brandon Triche poured in 20 points to pace the 17th-ranked Syracuse Orange over the West Virginia Mountaineers, 63-52, at the Carrier Dome.

Kris Joseph added 16 points and five rebounds for the Orange (21-6, 8-6 Big East), who gave head coach Jim Boeheim his 850th career victory. Boeheim is just the fifth Division I coach to reach the milestone. He is part of an elite group that includes Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp.

Rick Jackson donated 10 points and nine boards for Syracuse, which had lost three in a row at home. The Orange have never lost four straight on their home court under Boeheim.

"Brandon (Triche) has been very aggressive for our team and that is important for our team - he is a scorer," Boeheim said. "This was a situation where we needed to win. I think that one thing that happened when we lose a couple or we are not playing well is that people think the season is over. The season is over when we play 18 games in the league. We still have four more games. We have four games left."

Casey Mitchell made a career-high seven three-pointers en route to 23 points for the Mountaineers (16-9, 7-6), who are fighting through the toughest stretch of basketball in program history, as seven of their final nine Big East opponents sport a national ranking. West Virginia is 1-3 during the stretch thus far.

John Flowers chipped in with 10 points for the Mountaineers, who haven't beaten Syracuse at the Carrier Dome since 1996.

Down by four, 30-26, Syracuse started the second half on a 17-5 run to take control. Triche tallied eight points during the surge, which Jackson capped with a layup for a 43-35 lead with 14:48 to play.

A Mitchell trey and a Deniz Kilicli free throw quickly cut the gap to four. It would remain tight before a 7-0 Syracuse burst made it 51-42 with 11 minutes left.

West Virginia, though, had one last run in them. The visitors responded with seven straight points of their own to get within 51-49 on Kevin Jones' jumper with 8 1/2 minutes remaining.

Joseph stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws to make it a four-point game. Cam Thoroughman then turned the ball over for the Mountaineers, leading to C.J. Fair's jumper.

Triche stole the ball from Thoroughman on the ensuing possession and went in for a layup to make it a 57-49 game with 6:37 to go.

Mitchell made a three-pointer to cut the gap to five, but it proved to be West Virginia's final points of the contest.

Triche got the game started with a three-pointer, but the Mountaineers scored the next seven points. Syracuse, though, responded with a 7-0 run of its own to take a 10-7 lead.

With the score tied at 24-24 with about two minutes left until half, Flowers and Mitchell made back-to-back three-pointers to put West Virginia ahead by six.

Joseph made a jumper to cut Syracuse's deficit to 30-26 at the break.

Game Notes

The Orange hold a 33-16 lead over the Mountaineers in the all-time series...Never before has West Virginia faced seven ranked opponents in nine games...Boeheim ranks second in wins among active Division I coaches, trailing only Coach K at Duke...The Mountaineers went 11-of-22 from three-point range, but shot just 36.2 percent from the field...Syracuse made 46 percent of its shots.