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Colgate-Syracuse Preview

Nov 30, 2009 - 6:56 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Colgate (0-5) at Syracuse (6-0), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Facing opponents it was expected to beat, Syracuse is coming off a far less dramatic week than the one that propelled it into the top 10 last Monday.

The outcome of its next contest may be even more predictable.

After moving up two spots to No. 8 in this week's poll, the Orange go for their 44th consecutive win over Colgate when the teams meet at the Carrier Dome on Monday night.

Back-to-back wins against ranked opponents in the 2K Sports Classic tournament vaulted Syracuse (6-0) into the top 10 last week - the third-biggest jump in the history of the poll for a team that had been unranked.

The Orange responded with double-digit victories over Cornell and Columbia last week. They beat the Lions 85-60 on Friday behind Wes Johnson, who scored a career-high 26 points in 28 minutes to spark a 19-3 run early in the second half that gave Syracuse a 55-30 lead. Johnson hit two of his four 3-pointers during that stretch.

Johnson, who finished 8 of 13 from the field, is averaging 18.3 points and 7.2 rebounds.

"I'm just out there having fun," said Johnson, in his first year playing for the Orange after transferring from Iowa State. "Everybody is flowing and I'm back to my normal self."

The Orange went 9 of 21 from 3-point range and are shooting 40.5 percent from beyond the arc this season.

Syracuse has used second-half runs to take control in each of its last two victories. After leading by six at the half against Cornell, the Orange went on a 21-7 run at the start of the second half. They led by nine against Columbia at the break Friday.

"We hold each other to high standards and I think that is what we realized at halftime that we weren't playing our game," said senior Andy Rautins. "We fired each other up a little bit more on the floor vocally and got easy transition buckets."

The win was coach Jim Boeheim's 805th career victory, moving him ahead of Eddie Sutton for seventh all-time in Division I.

Monday is the 162nd meeting between Syracuse and its upstate rival Colgate (0-5). The Orange own a 116-45 advantage in the all-time series and have won the last 43 meetings dating back to 1962, including an 86-51 victory last season. The last four games have been decided by an average of 28.3 points.

This year's Colgate team doesn't seem in position to end the losing streak. The Raiders are still looking for their first win, although they came painfully close in their last game - a 66-65 defeat to St. Francis on Saturday.

The Terriers hit a shot as time expired after Mitch Rolls made one of two free throws to give Colgate the lead with 19 seconds left. Yaw Gyawu had a game-high 22 points while Kyle Roemer added 18 for the Raiders, who outrebounded St. Francis 36-22.

Colgate's previous loss was by nine points to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It opened the season with three consecutive defeats, including one to then-No. 12 Connecticut, by an average of 12.3 points.

Roemer leads the Raiders in scoring at 18.4 points per game. He missed last year's game against Syracuse because of a torn knee ligament.