Boeheim v. Boeheim? Syracuse holds off Cornell, 63-55

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) Round one of the Boeheims versus Boeheim went to Syracuse but it wasn't easy. The Orange just managed to avoid a huge upset against Cornell Saturday.

Brothers Buddy Boeheim of Syracuse and Jimmy Boeheim of the Big Red played against each other for the first time in their collegiate careers. Their father, Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, didn't have much time to enjoy the family affair as he watched his team struggle to a 63-55 win for its 39th straight victory against its upstate foe.

Tyus Battle scored 26 points and Oshae Brissett had 19 as Syracuse (5-2) held off Cornell (4-4) to remain unbeaten at home.

''There's a lot of things we're not doing well,'' Jim Boeheim said. ''Tyus and Oshae played well enough for us to win. Otherwise there wasn't a lot of good things. I can't tell you how disappointing it is. Really bad.''

The effort was particularly disturbing coming off his team's impressive road win at Ohio State.

''It's not fun to watch. I don't like watching it,'' Boeheim added. ''And that's disappointing coming off Wednesday night where we did a lot of things well and we come out here and play like this. I can't tell you how disappointing it is.''

It was so disappointing he couldn't even take pleasure watching his sons play against each other.

''I was so worried about the game when it was going on, I wasn't really thinking about that (his kids). Their mother can think about that,'' Boeheim said, who added Jimmy was ''good'' and ''is on the verge of really playing well and helping'' his team. Jimmy Boeheim scored nine points and registered six rebounds and four assists. Buddy hit a 3-pointer.

Matt Morgan paced Cornell with 26 points, 16 in the second half. He was 6-of-10 from 3 and 9-of-14 overall. Josh Warren added eight.

''We put up a fight and that's what we wanted to come in and do,'' Morgan said. ''Control the pace of the game, control the tempo. ''They just hit shots towards the end but I'm proud of the way we fought. Nothing much more than you could ask for.''

Syracuse took its biggest lead at 39-24 on a 3-pointer by Battle but Cornell stormed back, going on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to close the gap to 41-36 with a little more than 13 minutes to go. Brissett's consecutive 3s, sandwiched around two foul shots by Jimmy Boeheim, gave the Orange a 47-38 lead but Cornell closed to 47-45 on two 3s by Morgan and a free throw by Steven Julian.

Cornell took its first lead at 48-47 on a 3-pointer by Morgan with 7:53 to go. A layup by Marek Dolezaj gave the Orange a 49-48 lead but two free throws by Morgan put Cornell in front, 50-49 with 6:16 to go. A 3-pointer and layup by Battle on a Cornell turnover extended Syracuse's margin to 54-50 with 3:50 remaining.

Elijah Hughes' lay-in and a desperation 3 by Frank Howard, his only points of the game, gave the Orange a 59-52 lead. Battle closed out Syracuse's scoring on a fall-back jumper.

''It was a good fight,'' said Cornell coach Brian Earl. ''We fought hard the whole time. We could've folded. We probably would've folded in the past but we didn't. It was a pretty good step forward. We just came up short against a good team.''

For the Orange, the game was a wake-up call.

''We weren't ready to play and when we do that anyone can make it a game with us,'' Battle said. ''If we play Tuesday (against Northeastern) like we did tonight, we'll lose.

Syracuse had a 33-24 halftime lead. Battle and Brissett accounted for 27 of the Orange's 33 first-half points.

SEEING DOUBLE:

Matt Morgan has now scored in double figures in 59 straight games.

COMING UP EMPTY:

After scoring 17 and 18 points in his last two games, Syracuse's Elijah Hughes had just four points.

OFFENSIVE:

The Orange got only 18 points from players not named Tyus Battle and Oshae Brissett.

BIG PICTURE:

Cornell: There are no moral victories but the Big Red should feel pretty good about itself, not just hanging around Syracuse but taking the lead late in the game, threatening to break Syracuse's 38-game winning streak against the Big Red.

Syracuse: The Orange have work to do. After an impressive road win against Ohio State, Syracuse looked sluggish on offense with only Battle and Brissett doing any damage.

UP NEXT:

Cornell has a two-week layoff until the Big Red travels to Niagara for a Dec. 16 matchup.

Syracuse hosts Northeastern Tuesday night, its second in a stretch of seven consecutive games at home.