The third dunk made up for the first one he blew, because Tyus Battle thundered it down and the thousands of fans packed into the Carrier Dome stood up.

He had outraced a Wake Forest defender, snatched the ball away by his fingertips and risen up to jam. The roar from Battle himself, who flexed after he landed back to the court, and the crowd carried the same cathartic weight. After 39 minutes of struggling to push Wake Forest away, of the Demon Deacons snapping the net from 3-point land six straight times, of watching his head coach, Jim Boeheim, tear through his stages of furor from de-jacketing to reach chair-shaking, Battle had closed the door.

The last bucket in his game-high 34 points was the loudest, and it helped Syracuse (17-8, 6-6 Atlantic Coast) survive a late upset bid by Wake Forest (9-16, 2-11) and win, 78-70, on Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. Battle entered the contest averaging a team-high 20 points per game in February.

“When they made their run,” Boeheim said, “we had a little cushion, and then Tyus just made big plays, and Frank (Howard) made a big play to Paschal (Chukwu) at the end. That was the difference.”

Battle started cooking early. He hit a short jumper, then finished a layup in traffic.

Just more than three minutes in, the sophomore guard found himself on the right wing against Bryant Crawford, the Demon Deacons’ best scorer who shadowed Battle for most of the afternoon. Crawford had been the one who hit three-straight corner 3s to deal the Orange its first-ever loss to Wake Forest on Jan. 3 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Battle sized up Crawford, then jabbed right and appeared to drive that same way. Crawford reacted. But, too late, he realized it was a fake. Crawford tried to stop his own momentum and reposition himself in front of Battle, but none of that happened. The Wake Forest guard crumpled to the floor.

The Carrier Dome student section lost it. Above the “Ohhhhhhhhh!” the only words audible were: “He better have ankle insurance!”

Battle drilled the 3.

“Yeah, (that’s the dream),” Battle said of making an ankle-breaking move. “That’s happened a few times throughout my short basketball career, so…” He paused. “I didn’t think he was going to fall, but he went down and I had a wide-open 3. So, I had to take it.”

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Battle finished with 10 first-half points, but he popped off even more in the second half. On Syracuse’s second possession, the ball got knocked away from Battle out of bounds and he turned to one referee and stared at him, like, “Where’s the foul?” After the in-bounds, Battle beat his man and the seas parted to the hoop. When he missed, Chukwu grabbed the offensive rebound and dunked. Then, just as determined, Battle drove and drew a foul. His relentless aggressiveness set the tone and helped Syracuse keep attacking.

When Battle was asked if he felt like he has had to carry the team this season, he shrugged it off as he does any question that puts attention on himself.

“I never feel like that,” he said, and then he added Howard carried the team on multiple occasions, with his big steal late to stop Wake Forest from being close the gap even more, after WFU cut the lead from 14 to single-digits with 3s.

Then, Battle added: “I should’ve done better in the first half so I wouldn’t have had to have 24 in the second half.”

After Chukwu’s dunk, Battle scored 12 of Syracuse’s next 13 points and piloted the Orange through the challenges faced by the Demon Deacons heating up from the field.  

“(Wake Forest) did a good job making some shots,” said associate head coach Adrian Autry, “but Tyus was hot. We rode his hot hand. It’s one of those games.”

Published on February 11, 2018 at 5:16 pm

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