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Syracuse • After giving up 30 points and turning the ball over 17 times in the first half, the Syracuse Titans came out with a stellar defensive performance in the second half in a 54-52 comeback victory over the Layton Lancers on Friday night.

The 12-7 Titans improved to 6-2 in Region 2, leapfrogging Layton thanks to a defensive effort that allowed a mere 22 points in the closing half (including only nine in the third quarter) and some clutch free-throw shooting to finish the game.

"I thought we stepped up our intensity and played up a level from what we did in the first half," senior forward Dylan Brower said. "We had a pretty fiery talk in the locker room at halftime. ... We really wanted to win this one, and as seniors we knew that this was going to be the last time we got to play Layton. We knew we needed to step up and be aggressive to win."

In addition to the heightened defensive awareness, the Titans took very good care of the ball in the second half. They turned the ball over just four times in the second half and gave a struggling Layton offense very little to work with in the open court.

"A big '17' went up on the board at halftime," Syracuse coach Troy Anderson said. "I challenged them to not let that be the case in the second half, and they rose to the challenge. We changed what we were doing offensively, and it was more conducive to what [Layton] was doing defensively and didn't put us in as many bad situations."

After the Titans had clawed their way back to within two after being down by 13 points in the first half, both offenses went ice cold to close the third quarter. After tying the game up multiple times early in the fourth, Syracuse took its first lead of the game thanks to a 3-point shot from Brower with under two minutes remaining to make it 46-45 Titans.

"My point guard Brock Gilbert was looking at me the whole time during that shot. It was exciting when it finally went down," Brower said. "My couple shots before that didn't feel good, but that one felt good off my fingers."

With time winding down and the Layton offense unable to score at the pace it had in the first half, the Lancers eventually had to begin fouling to stay in the contest.

After a relatively quiet night from the floor, leading scorer Andrew Carlson was sent to the line to try tod ice the game for Syracuse.

The senior forward made his first two free throws to make the score 52-47, but Layton's Keejon Sloan was able to bank in a long 3-pointer to keep the Lancers alive for at least one more possession. Carlson once again stepped to the line, and once again delivered as his final free throw attempts sealed the game by a final score of 54-52.

"It was a fun moment hitting those free throws to win the game," Carlson said. "I just had to fight through those moments when I wasn't hitting shots earlier. Those kinds of free throws are shots that I've been thinking about and practicing since I was little. It's just muscle memory now." —

Storylines

• Syracuse held Layton to only 22 points in the second half as the Titans came back for a 54-52 victory.

• Andrew Carlson and Nathan Hansen each scored 12 points to lead Syracuse in scoring.

• Layton was led by Blake Hansen, who scored 15 points.