Joseph Girard scored 24 points and made five 3-pointers as the host Syracuse Orange defeated the Seattle Redhawks 89-67 on Saturday night.

The key stage of the game was the under-12 media timeout in the second half. After trailing by as many as 23 points, Seattle reduced its deficit to only seven, at 61-54, with 11:42 left in regulation. The Redhawks (2-3) scored on four of five possessions. Three of those possessions produced a 3-point jumper. One of those three possessions with a made triple included a free throw for a four-point play.

Syracuse regrouped at the under-12 timeout. Girard made a jumper with 11:03 left to stop Seattle's surge. The Orange (2-1) scored seven straight points for a 68-54 lead with 8:42 remaining. Seattle never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way. Syracuse extended its lead in the last eight minutes and cruised to the finish line.

Syracuse owned a 28-17 lead with 10:22 left in the first half. The Orange then held the Redhawks to just three points over the next eight minutes. With 2:22 remaining in the first half, Syracuse pushed its lead to 43-20. The Orange led 44-26 at halftime after building the working margin they needed when Seattle mounted its rally in the second half.

Girard finished 7 of 8 from the field, 5 of 6 on 3-pointers, and 5 of 5 from the free throw line, a nearly perfect display.

Marek Dolezaj scored 19 points for Syracuse on 7 of 8 shooting from the field. He added four assists for the Orange. Elijah Hughes contributed 15 points for Syracuse, which had five double-figure scorers.

Terrell Brown led Seattle with 23 points. Seattle made 23 field goal attempts, and Brown accounted for almost half of them with 10.

Delante Jones added 12 points for the Redhawks.

--Field Level Media