Syracuse (21-13) will play Midwest Region No. 6 TCU at 9:40 p.m. Friday in Detroit. It’s TCU’s first tournament appearance in 20 years.
The second half was one run after another. ASU (20-12) jumped to a 38-31 lead with a 10-1 run to start the half. The teams traded 8-3 runs that left ASU up 49-42 with 7:03 left. Then Syracuse went on a 13-3 run capped by Tyus Battle’s 3-pointer to take a 55-52 lead with 1:49 left.
ASU’s Kodi Justice, who scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the second half, scored with 51 seconds left to cut the lead to one. The Orange beat the press and got the ball to 7-foot-2 center Paschal Chukwu under the basket. His shot rolled off the rim, but he made both free throws to restore the three-point lead.
Mickey Mitchell made a difficult shot in the lane with 15 seconds left to cut the lead to one again. Chukwu was fouled on the inbounds play and made one free throw for a 58-56 lead. But ASU couldn’t score again and Frank Howard made to clinching free throws four-tenths of a second left.
Syracuse took a 21-16 lead on a Battle 3-pointer with 7:04 left in the half. But ASU got two 3-pointers from Shannon Evans II and chipped away to trail only 30-28 at halftime. Evans scored 11 points in the half and Battle had 10.
Battle added 15 points and Howard 12 for the Orange.
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