BUFFALO, N.Y. — For the first time in weeks, Syracuse wasn’t resorting to finding C.J. Fair with the shot clock winding down and watching him hoist up a difficult shot.

With Jerami Grant, Trevor Cooney and Tyler Ennis all scoring at least 16 points, the offense found its rhythm and, with that, Fair was able to play more comfortably.

“It gives the team that much more energy,” the forward said. “It gets us going. It spaces the floor out. It makes the defense have to react differently.”

Fair was able to play more like the player he was for his first three seasons during the No. 3-seed Orange’s 77-53 win against No. 14-seed Western Michigan (23-10, 14-4 Mid-American) on Thursday at First Niagara Center. He scored efficiently — making 6-of-13 from the field for 14 points — and pounded the glass. His 11 rebounds led the team and his four offensive boards helped SU (28-5, 14-4 Atlantic Coast) to its highest scoring total since Feb. 1.

Fair missed on his first shot, but whereas in the past few games he would have had to keep shooting, he was able to scale back his volume of attempts.

Instead, against an overmatched opponent, he could do much of his work away from the ball.

“We knew we were going to have a height advantage going into this game,” Fair said. “Coach always tells us whenever Trevor or Tyler get the ball, ‘Do your work early. Try to get in rebound position.’

“Trevor’s not going to miss many, but you want to be there to put it back or give him another chance at a shot.”

Eight of his 14 points on Thursday came from offensive rebounds. He soared through the lane to tip in an Ennis miss in the final minute of the first half to stretch the lead to 19, and got an and-one off a missed Ennis 3 during the second half.

Even when he couldn’t get his own shots to go down, he was chasing after for second chances. He rebounded his own miss during the second half and dropped in a reverse for an and-one as the Orange began to pull away.

“We made some shots,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “That always makes it a little bit easier.”

However, Fair did struggle to find much consistency with his jump shot and a turnover problem that plagued his game early in the year resurfaced.

Otherwise, he did everything that Syracuse needed him to do. Right now those aren’t mistakes that he can be too concerned with.

“I don’t worry about that,” he said. “I’m just trying to make some plays. I was trying to make things happen.”

Published on March 20, 2014 at 8:08 pm

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