SYRACUSE, N.Y. (SYRACUSE ATHLETICS) –

A 19-point outing from Joseph Girard III sent Syracuse to a 78-63 victory versus longtime in-state foe Cornell. The Orange improves to 8-4.

Jesse Edward logged his sixth double-double of the season by contributing 11 points and 12 rebounds. Judah Mintz added 14 points, Chris Bell had 13 points, and Benny Williams finished with 12 points. That completed the Orange performers who finished the day in double-figures.

Bell and Girard opened up the first 60 seconds of the second stanza by netting the first four points, making it a 41-37 game, to give Syracuse its advantage for good. The lead ballooned as high as 20 points in the second half.

Late in the first frame, Syracuse logged seven unanswered points, which put the Orange within four points of Cornell’s 25-21 lead with just 7:02 left on the clock. Girard put up seven points within the stretch and assisted on a layup from Mailq Brown.

With just 34 seconds left before halftime, Girard stepped up with a big three-pointer to narrow the Orange deficit to one point, 37-36. SU’s defense forced a shot clock violation for Cornell on its next hold. The Big Red’s Marcus Filien sent Bell to the line, whose make knotted things up 37-37, with just nine seconds left. Cornell failed to answer during its final possession, sending the game into the break with a tie.

Over the first 10 minutes after the break, SU held the visiting Cornell squad to just 15.8% (3-of-19) in field goal range.

A dunk by Williams sent the Orange 12-0 scoring spurt, which was capped off by a free throw from Mintz. The run gave Syracuse a 57-43 advantage with just 11:52 left in the contest.

Syracuse extended its win streak against Cornell to 42, and the all-time series record moved to 96-31. Girard (1,308) shuffled past Tony Bruin (1,294) into the 39th spot on the career Syracuse scoring list.

Cornell’s 48 three-pointers attempted marked the second most 3-pointers attempted by an opponent. The Big Red broke their own second-place tie (shared with North Florida) of 46 that was set last season. Cornell was led with a 12-point showing by Nazir Williams.

Syracuse led the Big Red in points off turnovers (19-10) and paint points (38-22).

Syracuse returns to ACC play on Tuesday, Dec. 20, as the squad welcomes Pitt to the JMA Wireless Dome. Tip-off is slated for 9:00 p.m. and the contest will air live on ESPNU.