Trevor Cooney

After his final shot attempt bounced off the rim and onto the floor, Trevor Cooney looked toward the Syracuse bench and tried to cleanse his body of all frustration with a forceful F-bomb. 

It was the vexation of making the right plays for more than 39 minutes and being on the verge of a statement victory over a ranked opponent, only to see it slip away in the final 17 seconds of regulation time. 

With just under five minutes remaining and his team trailing Syracuse by three points, St. John’s guard Phil Greene IV decided he was going to shoot the ball under any circumstance. 

He simply knew he was going to make a big shot, and he didn’t disappoint when it came time to prove his gut feeling correct. 

The senior buried three shots from beyond the arc and scored 13 points down the stretch to lead the Red Storm to an impressive 69-57 victory over the Orange in front of 24,884 fans in the Carrier Dome on Saturday afternoon. 

Syracuse forward Michael Gbinije drained a jumper and drew a foul with only two seconds left on the shot clock late in the second half to give the No. 23 Orange a 13-point lead over the Hampton Pirates. 

The 22,848 fans at the Carrier Dome erupted, but it was one of the few times during Sunday’s game they were able to do so. 

While Syracuse’s annual Orange Madness celebration didn’t feature Drake warming up on the court, there was certainly a lot of excitement at the Carrier Dome on Friday night. 

Men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim came out for introductions in a Humvee. Former Syracuse forward John Wallace proved that, even at 40 years old, he can still throw down a dunk. And 10-year-old Nicholas Trivelpiece made a shot in the final seconds of the men’s scrimmage game.