Tyus Battle delivers in Syracuse regular season finale

Freshman Tyus Battle scored nine of the Syracuse Orange’s first 13 points in the blowout 90-61 victory over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon.

And he was just getting started.

Battle led all scorers with 13 first-half points as the Orange took a 12-point lead into the intermission.

In his 38 total minutes, Battle scored 22 points, which was second on the team to Andrew White’s career-high 40. He went 6-of-11 from the floor, 4-of-7 from three-point range and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.

He doubled his total from the first matchup with Georgia Tech, and his fast start helped the Orange get out to a lead and never look back.

Tyus also grabbed four rebounds.

Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

“I know I’m a good shooter and I’m just going to continue to work on my craft,” Battle told TNIAAM earlier this season. “We’re a really good team when everything clicks. We know that, we just have to prove it.”

On Saturday, Syracuse proved it. The Orange ran past the Yellow Jackets in front of the second-largest crowd of the season at the Carrier Dome (30,448). It was the second crowd of 30,000-plus this year.

Battle’s effort on Saturday was one of his best all season, as he fell just one point short of his career-high at Syracuse.

The Orange finished the regular season with an 18-13 record overall, and 10-8 in ACC play. SU went a remarkable 8-1 at home in conference play, including wins over Duke, Virginia, Miami and Florida State.

Syracuse returns to action this Wednesday at noon ET in the second round of the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.