Sports

No. 2 Syracuse crunches UConn

This time, Scoop Jardine was ready when Syracuse was tested by a heated rival.

Jardine hit three 3-pointers and a layup in the closing minutes to break open a tense game, finishing with a season-high 21 points to lift the second-ranked Orange to an 85-67 victory over slumping Connecticut yesterday in Syracuse.

Jardine managed just three points on 1-of-7 shooting during a 64-61 overtime victory against Georgetown on Wednesday. But the senior guard came up big against the Huskies, making 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to stop a Connecticut charge in the second half.

“I was in the right position to make a shot and I did,” Jardine said. “And then the second one, I was confident because I just made one. That kind of took them out of what they wanted to do.”

Jardine’s long-range prowess sent the Orange (25-1, 12-1 Big East) on a 19-3 spurt as they earned their fifth consecutive win since losing at Notre Dame. The victory also whipped the crowd of 33,430— the largest of the season and fourth largest in Carrier Dome history — into a frenzy.

Jardine was 8-for-9 from the field and had six assists against only one turnover.

Syracuse shot 59.3 percent and hit 10 of 16 from beyond the arc to offset UConn’s 8-of-19 effort from long range.

“I think offensively, this is the best we’ve played all year,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We made a lot of shots. When you make a lot of shots, the game gets a lot easier.”