Syracuse 85, Long Beach State 67: Orange Earn Second Straight Victory

Junior forward Michael Gbinije and senior center Rakeem Christmas each scored a game-high 24 points Sunday to help the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team defeat the Long Beach State 49ers, 85-67, in a non-conference showdown at the Carrier Dome.

The Orange (8-4) had to overcome an early 10-point, first-half deficit to earn their third victory in four games. Overall, SU made 57.7% of its field goal attempts, which included knocking down seven of it's dozen 3-point attempts. Trevor Cooney added 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Gbinije led the team with four 3-pointers. Christmas grabbed ten rebounds for his second straight double-double and fourth this season.

Mike Caffey (14 points), Tyler Lamb (14), Eric McKnight (14) and David Samuels (13) all scored in double figures for the 49ers, who dropped to 5-9 on the season.

On Wednesday, SU will close out non-conference play by hosing the Cornell Big Red (6 p.m. on ESPNU).

A longer recap will be coming shortly, in the meantime talk about the victory below.