New starters step up as Syracuse basketball remains undefeated at home

SYRACUSE — No center, no problem.

Syracuse coach Adrian Autry may toy with his lineup as his starting center is injured, but sophomore forward Maliq Brown played "phenomenal" Wednesday night, stuffing the stat sheet while keeping Boston College's 7-footer scoreless in the Orange's 69-59 win during Wednesday's Atlantic Coast Conference bout at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Even though the Orange entered two new starters in the lineup, their defense was stingy and made key stops in the final moments to improve to 11-4 overall, 2-2 in ACC play and 8-0 in the dome while Brown shined in a tough matchup.

"Probably one of our better defensive games we've had in conference play this year," Autry said after the game.

Maliq Brown owned the Post

Syracuse's 7-foot-4 center Naheem McLeod suffered an injury in practice that will sideline him indefinitely, but the 6-foot-8 Maliq Brown shined as a starter against Boston College.

More valuable than Brown's 19 points was his ability to keep BC star Quinten Post scoreless. Post entered the game averaging over 18 points, but left Syracuse 0-for-4 from the floor with seven turnovers in 26 minutes. He fouled out when the Eagles trailed by four with 2:13 remaining.

Brown took some elbows from Post while guarding the Eagles' big man, but was kept in check the entire night as the Orange doubled him hard on the catch and forced BC to cough up 22 total turnovers.

"Obviously we were going over that all week, just knowing that he's been averaging good numbers during the while season," Brown said. "Just trying to make it hard and deny so he can't catch the ball."

Autry praised big men Benny Williams and Mounir Hima's efforts in reserve roles. They may have earned more minutes.

"I thought we did a really good job of battling Post," Autry said. "Being able to hold him scoreless, I thought that was the difference in the game. He's one of the best players in our conference, and a big part of what they're doing."

Brown shot an efficient 6-of-11 from the floor, sending the crowd to its feet with rim rattling dunks. Autry was especially impressed with Brown shooting 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Brown also pulled down eight rebounds, dished out four assists, and added four blocks and four steals that often turned into points for Syracuse.

Fourteen of Brown's points came in the second half, 10 of them occurred in the final 5:51 during a back-and-forth game after the Orange lost what was once a 19-point lead. Brown's dunk with 4:44 left broke a tie at 55, and another dunk one minute later gave SU a 61-57 lead. His two free throws extended SU's lead to 63-59 lead with 3:00 left.

Brown impressed Autry with his rolls, screens and paint finishes too.

"I thought he was really good," Autry said.

Syracuse finished with 17 steals. In the first half, 12 of those steals turned into 16 points. SU scored the first eight points, and their 29-9 advantage eventually dwindled to 32-22 at halftime.

Sophomore Chris Bell was the main beneficiary of those first half turnovers. He had consecutive fast break dunks about 10 minutes into the game. The latter was a crowd pleasing windmill. Bell finished with 20 points, and nailed a midrange dagger as the shot clock expired to put SU up 67-59 with 1:20 remaining.

Sophomore guards Quadir Copeland and Judah Mintz each added three steals. Copeland had seven points and four assists in his first start filling in for Mintz, who scored 10 points off the bench after violating a team rule, but he's expected to start noon Saturday at North Carolina. Copeland had seven points and four assists.

Boston College coach Earl Grant's Eagles (10-5, 1-3) were led by Claudell Harris Jr.'s 16 points. Devin McGlockton added 15. BC's only lead was short-lived, using a 9-0 run to take a 50-49 lead with 7:27 left. Bell subbed back in and made a 3-pointer to regain the lead for Syracuse.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Syracuse basketball beats Boston College as new starters step up