Syracuse (14-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) fell on the road to Miami (13-6, 3-3) in Coral Gables, Florida, 72-67.

Despite sophomore point guard Tiana Mangakahia nearly recording a triple-double, SU couldn’t overcome a lopsided points-in-the-paint tally, where UM outscored the Orange by 18. That was in large part due to Erykah Davenport, the Hurricanes’ 6-foot-2 forward/center who snatched 13 boards and put up 21 points on an efficient 10-of-14 performance.

“She does a very good job playing at the rim,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said of the Hurricanes big. “She’s a very athletic post player.”

Both teams came out of the first quarter evenly matched, with the score reflecting that, tied at 22. Syracuse went 9-for-20 and Miami sank 9-of-19. The Hurricanes out-rebounded the Orange by four, but SU had three more assists. Ten minutes did nothing to separate the two sides.

But in the second quarter, Miami was able to blow the game open, sustaining a 20-4 run until there was 3:11 left until halftime. SU went ice cold in the second quarter, hitting just 3-of-18 shots — including 1-for-12 beyond the arc — while Miami continued to hit nearly 50 percent of its shots.

Syracuse entered the half trailing by 11.

“The biggest thing was making some tough plays,” Hillsman said. “We gotta rebound the ball, get out in transition and make some shots. We were getting open shots and not making them.”

Clawing back wasn’t an instant process for Syracuse, but it rode a 10-0 run starting with 1:38 left in the third and ending 1:19 into the fourth quarter to close Miami’s lead to two, 55-53.

Still, the Hurricanes didn’t fold and pushed the lead back to six with fewer than two minutes remaining. In the end, Miami held on long enough to force Syracuse into fouling, and was steady from the line, holding on for a five-point win.

“You gotta win games on the road,” Hillsman said. “When you’ve got close, tough games you’ve got a chance to win, you want to seal the deal and take those wins home.”

The loss continues a trend of inconsistency in conference play for SU. The Orange is undefeated at home, but 0-4 on the road. The good news for Syracuse is that it has two-straight home games upcoming.

By the end of the night, Mangakahia had scored 17, dished 14 assists and was a rebound shy of the triple-double. Miranda Drummond also contributed 17. Two other starters — Gabrielle Cooper and Amaya Finklea-Guity — scored 11.

Still, it wasn’t enough to overcome Davenport’s dominant night.

“She did her job,” Hillsman said.

Published on January 18, 2018 at 10:28 pm

Contact Andrew: aegraham@syr.edu | @A_E_Graham