Syracuse-Richmond: Along Came a Spider...

Both the Orange and Spiders came out of the gate running, initially going point for point until Jonny Flynn and his teammates broke open a 17-10 lead.

Unfortunately for the Orange, the Spiders would have none of it and David Gonzalvez started draining long threes.

The Orange got into trouble when they forgot about their very talented forward Arinze Onuaku and began trying to match each of the Spiders' threes. After being down by as much as seven, the Spiders swung momentum and went into the half up by seven, 38-31.

But during halftime Coach Jim Boeheim must have clearly reminded his team of the 1991 NCAA Tournament upset where 15-seeded Richmond upset two-seeded Syracuse. The Orange opened the second half with an impressive 13-2 run.

The key to this run: Eric Devendorf.

Five minutes into the second half Devendorf drove and laid the ball into Onuaku's hand, where his dunk to start a three-point play put the spark back in the Carrier Dome. The Orange never trailed from that moment on.

With four minutes left in the game, the Orange led by 11. With three minutes, by 10. But then a late game push coupled with stupid fouls by the Orange let the Spiders back in, and with one minute left in the game the Orange were only up by four.

Enter hack-a-shaq.

In the last 45 seconds of the game, the Orange went three-for-seven on free throws with Flynn being the biggest culprit, only hitting two of five.

The missed free throws wound up not making a difference, though, as the Orange held on to win the game 76-71.

But the most impressive feat of the night was how Devendorf and Flynn took over in the second half and accumulated 49 points between the two of them for the game. Add Onuaku's 17 points into the mix and they accounted for 66 of Syracuse's 76 points tonight.

The Spiders were a little more balanced with four players scoring in double digits. In the second half, though, they went cold from beyond the arc and Gonzalvez, who had 14 points going into the half and was perfect on three-point attempts, did not hit another three and finished the game with only 18.

Whatever Coach Boeheim said during halftime worked. Judging by the spark that it lit within both Devendorf and Flynn, Orange fans had better hope that he has similar war stories for other games.