
Christopher Johnson and Laurence Ekperigin hooted and hollered as they skipped off Jim Boeheim Court, huge smiles creasing their faces and seemingly as stunned as the Syracuse Orange at what had just transpired.
Johnson scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 8.3 seconds remaining, and Division II Le Moyne stunned Syracuse 82-79 in an exhibition game Tuesday night.
"We've got an experienced group," Le Moyne head coach Steve Evans said. "Did we ever think that a day like this would happen? Probably not. But we put together a game plan. We didn't want to play Syracuse's way. We wanted to play our way. It was just one of those days for Le Moyne basketball. The kids will remember this forever."
Wes Johnson, who led Syracuse with 34 points, hit a 3 from the left corner to put Syracuse ahead 79-78 with 22 seconds left.
Then Christopher Johnson responded with his sixth 3-pointer of the game, which came from the left side after Syracuse's Kris Joseph backed off defensively.
"We were sort of out of whack a little bit," Christopher Johnson said. "Everyone was rushing. But as soon as I caught the ball, I saw an opening and I just let it fly. Luckily, it went in."
After Wes Johnson missed a 3, Can Ozkaner added a free throw with 1.3 seconds left for Le Moyne and Syracuse had its first preseason exhibition loss since a setback against the Harlem Globetrotters six years ago.
"Le Moyne really outplayed us from the beginning of the game to the end," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "They (the Orange) are very, very young mentally. They really have got to grow up. We couldn't stop them on the dribble. That's something we've been looking at in practice."
Ekperigin had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Damani Corbin had 11 points and five assists, and Kevin Roth added 10 points for Le Moyne, which outscored Syracuse 42-30 in the paint.
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