Matthew Cleveland's career game powers Miami past Syracuse

Senior Matthew Cleveland scored a career-high 32 points and finished with five assists to lead Miami to a 91-84 victory over Syracuse on Tuesday in Coral Gables, Fla.

The Hurricanes (6-18, 2-11 Atlantic Coast Conference) secured its second ACC victory in its past three tries after losing the previous 20 conference games.

For the Orange (11-14, 5-9 ACC), it was a potentially costly loss as they try to hang on to one of the top 15 spots in the conference standings needed to qualify for the ACC tournament.

Cleveland shot a sharp 10-for-13 from the field and 10-for-12 from the free-throw line. It was the third time he scored 30 or more points in his past seven games.

Even so, Miami needed other help on the offensive end to hold off the Orange down the stretch. Hurricanes freshman Jalil Bethea scored a career-best 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and 6-of-7 success from the foul line. Bethea also had six rebounds and four assists.

Syracuse, which was led by J.J. Starling's 25 points and Eddie Lampkin's 22 points and 13 rebounds, briefly took a 54-52 lead with 13:32 left in the second half before the Hurricanes rattled off six consecutive points, capped by a fastbreak dunk by Divine Ugochukwu.

The Orange answered with a 7-0 run out of a timeout. A 3-pointer from Miami's Paul Djobet tied the game at 61 with 9:13 to go, sparking an 8-0 run that put the Hurricanes up 66-61. Miami did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.

Miami led by nine with 1:11 left and sealed the game at the free-throw line where it went 19-for-23 as a team. A.J. Staton-McCray, who had 10 points, made three free throws in the final 16 seconds.

The Hurricanes, who have struggled on the boards throughout large chunks of the season, were outrebounded by Syracuse 33-28, including 11-4 on the offensive glass. However, Miami limited its turnovers to nine and capitalized with 12 points off 10 Orange giveaways.

--Field Level Media