64 - 50 
Well, we didn’t see this one coming.
The Syracuse Orange (4-0) tipped of the final game of the Brooklyn Holiday Hoops Invitation against the South Carolina Gamecocks (5-0) at home the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. South Carolina played defense as gritty as its head coach and in the end, South Carolina pulled of the victory 64-50.
Syracuse immediately fell behind 6-0 after giving up two three-pointers to start the game and had to fight from behind. At the under 8 media timeout in the first half Jim Boeheim elected to go with two ball handlers in John Gillon and Frank Howard. With those guys in the Orange were able to go on a 5-0 run.
Immediately after Howard picked up his third and was forced to sit the rest of the half. As such, Syracuse went into the break trailing 37-26 after shooting a horrid 34.8% from three and turning the ball over 11 times.
Syracuse started the second half much better than the first as Lydon went on a 6-0 run early to get the game within six. Boeheim elected to continue his two point-guard look, running Howard and Gillon at the same time.
The contest remained close the rest of the way with Syracuse fighting from behind. The Orange just couldn’t make enough shots to get over the hump down the stretch. All in all, it was the South Carolina defense that gave it the victory over the Orange.
Lydon led Syracuse in scoring with 18 while Howard and White had 10 each. Syracuse finished with a gaudy 17 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle 36-30.
Syracuse now moves to 4-1 on the season. The Orange will travel Madison to take on Wisconsin on Tuesday. That game tips at 7:30 pm and airs on ESPN.
