SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Quincy Guerrier had 23 points and 13 rebounds to help Syracuse spoil Niagara’s season opener with a 75-45 win on Thursday night.
Syracuse announced less than a couple hours before the game that one of its players tested positive for COVID-19. The school said in a release that the positive result stemmed from testing that occurred last week. Syracuse did not reveal which player had tested positive and indicated that, because of the new positive test, additional players would miss the game on Thursday night because of contact tracing.
Coach Jim Boeheim said afterward the positive was a walk-on and clarified that five players, including his son Buddy, will have to sit out because of contact tracing. Both exposures occurred off-campus and his son will be out 14 days, Boeheim said.
“He’s home broken-hearted because he’s worked his tail off every day since last season ended to be on the court, and he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Boeheim said.
Boeheim said that more than 600 COVID-19 tests have been given to the team and there have been just two positives.
Bourama Sidibe, who recently had surgery to repair a torn meniscus, also missed the game.
Kadary Richmond added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Alan Griffin scored 10 points for the Orange (2-0).
Marcus Hammond had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Purple Eagles (0-1).
Syracuse pulled away with a 26-2 run in the first half, but Niagara had a 12-3 run to cut the deficit to 42-28 at halftime.
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