Trevor Cooney was the first Syracuse player to score. He was the only SU player trusted to take the ball down the court at the end of Sunday evening’s game. And afterward, he was the last left in the locker room.

Cooney scored a season-high 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting and a 4-of-8 3-point effort in a contest where his complete effort gave Syracuse some semblance of control, one that was lost before being permanently recovered by Cooney himself. Fellow Syracuse vets sat and the Orange’s young players littered the game with turnovers, fouls and basic miscues that had Jim Boeheim all but flapping out of his jacket.

On a day when Rakeem Christmas, Kaleb Joseph and Chris McCullough were inconsistent, it was one of Syracuse’s (6-3) old inconsistencies that carried it to a narrow 71-69 win over Louisiana Tech (7-3) in front of 19, 156 in the Carrier Dome on Sunday evening.

“Trevor played the way he has to play,” Boeheim said. “He was a player, he wasn’t a shooter.”

With 4.7 seconds left and the game tied, Cooney stood at the baseline to the left of the hoop, tucked an overhead pass into Christmas and watched as the senior hooked in the game-winning shot.

Twenty seconds into the game Cooney was slapping Christmas’ hand, celebrating a lay-in that opened the scoring for the Orange. At the time they were playing a game they were working their way into, but one that Syracuse was expected to dictate.

But what they ultimately celebrated was a survival.

“Two of our best players were in foul trouble, Mike Gbinije’s hurt, so yeah I mean I had to dig down deep and keep pushing, keep going on,” Cooney said. “And I did that.”

Christmas had been out of the game for 10 minutes when Cooney sunk a 3 from just inside the left wing with 48 seconds left in the first half to give SU a 32-28 lead.

Gbinije had left the game with 3:59 left in the first half with a back injury. He didn’t return, leaving lost underclassmen and Cooney — with some help from Christmas — to get a grasp on a game where SU turned the ball over 11 times in the first half.

“Everybody is in a new position except Trevor Cooney and he’s being asked to do things he never was asked to do,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim spent much of the game physically explaining basketball fundamentals with his hands. He was raising them above his head for defending shots, flashing them in front of his chest for passes or throwing them out and together for how to catch a ball.

With just under 14 minutes left in the game, Cooney was cracking a smile as he slapped Tyler Roberson on the chest. The sophomore forward missed several putbacks during the game and drew criticism from Boeheim afterward for failing at basics like catching and not fouling on open 3s.

But at that moment the Orange held a 43-34 lead and Cooney calmly held one finger in the air to call out the defense. Six fouls and five turnovers in the next 11 minutes though, brought Louisiana Tech within five points.

With Joseph committing eight turnovers on the day, it was the junior shooting guard bringing the ball up with the game on the line.

“I think the ball was in my hand because I’m pretty much a senior,” Cooney said. “I’ve been in tough situations before and I know what Coach wants.”

For the game’s final three minutes, Cooney ran the point. His teammates deferred to him as an outlet under pressure. And with 2:52 to play he dribbled three-quarters of the floor, blowing past his man as he slashed into the lane before finishing left-handed to give SU a 67-60 lead with his final points of the night.

His final pass of the night gave the Orange the game and two seconds of game time and post-game handshakes later he led his teammates down the tunnel, just as he led them to a narrow victory.

Said Christmas: “We know Trevor can do this all the time and we’re just happy to have him in there.”

Published on December 14, 2014 at 6:21 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_