With the season-opening tipoff in Syracuse’s possession, Tyler Roberson went to work. Frank Howard, known to make more ambitious passes than anyone else on the team, dribbled up the court.

Roberson positioned himself under the basket, sandwiched between a pair of Colgate defenders. Howard called on the senior forward anyway. He speared a pass to Roberson, who used every bit of his 6-foot-8, 226-pound frame to rise between the defenders and above the basket, smashing home the first two points of his and SU’s season.

“Frank set (Roberson) up pretty good,” Jim Boeheim said. “… He’s a good finisher when he gets to the basket.”

The crowd rumbled, unaware of the show Roberson was plotting out. The veteran came to the doorstep of his career-high 19 points but finished with a team-high 18. That was about the only drop of disappointment for Roberson in No. 19 Syracuse’s (1-0) 83-55 win against Colegate (0-1) on Friday night in the Carrier Dome.

Roberson’s made a career out of being a defensive stalwart and protecting the interior of the zone. And as expected, over and over again, he was getting to the rim. But instead the ball was already in his team’s possession, and Roberson tried replicating the results of his game-opening play. He mirrored it pretty well. In 24 minutes, he came down with seven dunks to punctuate one of the best performances of his career.

“I was so excited for him,” senior Andrew White said. “A lot of guys don’t talk to him, don’t mess with him too much because win, lose or draw … he does his own thing. But I probably gave him 20 (high-fives) tonight.

“Coach challenged him to be better to start the year, and to see him respond and to do what he did, I think it’s great.”

As Colgate pressed out to defend the perimeter, Syracuse turned in. Point guards John Gillon and Howard looked toward the paint. Nine different times on the night, Roberson notched a bucket. The scoring plays were spread out, save for one 71-second span that was all Roberson.

It started with a play that only allotted the Orange two points, but by far left the biggest impression on the game. With Syracuse only up by nine midway through the first half, Gillon looked up and saw Roberson tracing a path to the basket. From well behind the 3-point line, the point guard darted a pass high and far in the air, with Roberson still needing a couple steps to begin his ascension.

“I know I can go get it,” Roberson said. “The pass was on point. It was perfect from a distance like that.”

He elevated in perfect concert with Gillon’s alley-oop, and sent the Dome into a frenzy as he spiked the ball through the net. In that moment, all 10 of the senior’s points had come at the rim, and the acrobatics only added an exclamation point to his stat line.

Momentum rolled over into the two ensuing possessions, in which Roberson also finished at the rim. Gillon assisted him with another pass, and Lydon bounced one across the paint into the hands of Roberson. By halftime, he had 16 points in 16 minutes. Roberson said after the game he knew he was approaching his career-high in points as he entered the locker room.

But in eight second-half minutes, he could only muster three shots. It didn’t matter, with the game tucked safely away. Roberson’s work was done.

Published on November 11, 2016 at 11:31 pm

Contact Connor: cgrossma@syr.edu | @connorgrossman