Curry, Friars upset No. 15 Syracuse

PROVIDENCE—Sharaud Curry scored a season-high 22 points to lead six players in double figures, carrying Providence to a 100-94 upset over 15th-ranked Syracuse on Wednesday night.

Marshon Brooks scored 17 points, and Geoff McDermott and Jonathan Kale each scored 15 for Providence (14-6, 6-2 Big East), which won for the seventh time in nine games and matched its best Big East start since 2000-01. Randall Hanke Weyinmi Efejuku had 12 points apiece for Providence.

Jonny Flynn led Syracuse (17-5, 5-4) with a career-high 35 points and Eric Devendorf had 27. The Orange lost their fourth in five games.

Providence opened a 14-point lead after consecutive 3s by Curry and Brooks 22 seconds apart midway into the second half and Syracuse never moved closer than five points the rest of the way.

The Providence students stormed the court when the game ended despite many requests from the PA announcer to stay off “for their safety.“

Providence scored 10 straight points and 16-of-19 over a four-minute stretch early in the second half, opening a 63-51 lead on Randall Hanke’s layup with 14:24 to play.

The Orange closed to 73-65 on Flynn’s 3-point play, but Curry and Brooks hit their 3s just 22 seconds apart to spark a 10-4 run that made it 83-69 with 6:47 to play.

The Friars came out shooting in the second half, hitting 15 of their first 20 shots from the floor. Many came on short jumpers in the middle of Syracuse’s zone.

In the first half, the Friars also didn’t have any trouble solving the Orange’s zone, getting the ball inside for a number of easy baskets, while Syracuse relied on the outside shooting of Devendorf and the transition game of Flynn to keep the contest tight.

The Orange scored 11 of 17 points to take to a 27-21 edge on Flynn’s breakaway layup, but Providence started combining strong outside shooting with its inside game to pull to 44-all at intermission.

Flynn had 17 points and Devendorf, who showed little effect from a sore hip that’s been bothering him for nearly three weeks, had 13 in the opening half.

Syracuse center and leading rebounder Arinze Onuaku didn’t start but entered early in the first half. He was very ineffective in the opening 20 minutes, grabbing just one rebound without taking a shot in 10 minutes after missing practice the past two days due to swelling of both knees.

Orange guard Andy Rautins didn’t make the trip due to a sprained right ankle.