Sophomore guard Brandon Triche scored a team-best 20 points for the Syracuse Orange (No. 17 in the AP poll and No. 20 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll), who beat the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers, 63-52, in a Big East Conference game at the Carrier Dome. The Orange (21-6, 8-6 Big East) ended a two-game losings streak and helped head coach Jim Boeheim earn his 850th victory. Boeheim joins Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp and Mike Krzyzewski as the only NCAA Division I men's basketball head coaches to accomplish the milestone. Currently, SU sits alone in eighth place in the Big East standings.
Trailing 30-26 at halftime, the Orange (21-6, 8-6 Big East) used a 17-5 run, which included eight points from Triche, to earn a 43-35 advantage with 14:46 to go in the game. From there, SU was able to hang on despite WVU's senior guard netting a game-best 23 points that included seven 3-pointers. West Virginia (16-9, 7-6) went 11-of-22 (50.0 percent) from 3-point land, but couldn't produce anything else on offense.
Junior forward Kris Joseph netted 16 points for SU. Senior forward Rick Jackson added 10 points and nine rebounds, while senior point guard Scoop Jardine had a stat-stuffing performance with nine points, six assists, five steals and five rebounds.
SU finished 23-of-50 (46.0) from the field and 4-of-13 (30.8) from behind the 3-point arc. WVU went 17-of-47 (36.2) from the field. The Orange outrebounded the Mountaineers, 31-26.
The Syracuse basketball schedule features the Orange hosting the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.). Next week, SU will play at the Villanova Wildcats, Tuesday, Feb. 21; then at the Georgetown Hoyas, Saturday, Feb. 26.