The Miami Hurricanes defeated the Syracuse Orange 62-57 in the 2nd round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

Miami employed a balanced scoring attack to beat the Orange. Senior F and Brooklyn native Kamari Murphy (career-high 16 points, 10 rebounds) led the team in scoring — in addition to locking down star Syracuse F Tyler Lydon, holding him to 5 points — and was one of 4 Miami players who scored in double figures.

One of the most derided players on Miami’s roster, point guard Ja’Quan Newton had a great game vs Syracuse, which I detailed on Twitter just moments ago:

Davon Reed and Dejan Vasiljevich added in some timely 3FGs to keep the offense moving, and help propel Miami to a much needed victory.

For more on today’s game, here is the recap from UM Athletics:

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The opening game of Wednesday’s second round of the ACC Tournament was a physical slugfest in which neither team gave an inch on the Barclays Center court.

Just the kind of game in which Brooklyn native Kamari Murphy thrives.

Murphy scored 16 points in his homecoming, including two crucial dunks in the last four minutes, to lead the Miami Hurricanes to a 62-57 win over Syracuse Wednesday. Miami improved to 21-10 with the win and will face top-seeded North Carolina Thursday in the quarterfinals at noon. Syracuse dropped to 18-14.

Murphy also grabbed 10 rebounds to post his sixth double-double of the season, leading a balanced scoring effort with four Hurricanes in double figures. Guard Davon Reed, who was presented with the 2017 Skip Prosser Award prior to tipoff, scored 14 points. DJ Vasiljevic had 13 points – including three 3-pointers -- while JaQuan Newton scored 11. Forward Andrew White led the Orange with 22 points, while guard Tyus Battle had 14 points.

The game was a tale of two halves. The Hurricanes hit six three-pointers shot a blistering 62 percent in the opening stanza to race to an eight-point lead at the break. The second half was a defensive struggle as the two teams combined to shoot just 32.5 percent from the field. But Miami made some key shots and some key stops down the stretch, holding on for a crucial and satisfying win.

Syracuse chipped away at Miami’s lead early in the second half. Guard Tyus Battle hit his third trey of the game to give Syracuse a 41-40 lead with 12:13 left – the Orange’s first lead since it was 4-3. But Vasiljevic answered with a 3-pointer of his own to give Miami the lead back and then hit another one as the shot clock expired to make it 46-41.

The Hurricanes stretched the lead to seven, but the Orange again made a run as White hit a runner to cut Miami’s lead to 53-52. On the ensuing possession, forward Anthony Lawrence lobbed a perfect ball to Murphy, who slammed it home to push the lead back to three.

Battle then missed a dunk, leading to a Miami break where Newton fed Murphy for his own dunk at the other end to make it 57-52.

Guard John Gillon hit a trey at the other end for Syracuse to cut Miami’s lead to 57-55 with 39.8 seconds left. Lawrence then fed Newton for a layup to make it 59-55. After Lydon answered with a dunk and Syracuse called timeout with 12.1 seconds left, the Orange fouled Reed with 7.7 left on the clock.

Reed hit one of two free throws, giving the Orange a chance to send the game into overtime. But Gillon missed a long three-pointer, guard Bruce Brown snagged the rebounded and hit two free throws, enabling Hurricanes fans to finally breathe easy.

Both teams shot 43 percent from the field. Miami hit 9 of 23 from beyond the arc and outrebounded Syracuse 31-26. The Hurricanes’ bench also outscored the Orange’s bench 13-2.

The Orange scored the first four points of the game but Miami responded with a 10-0 run. Lawrence hit a trey from the top of the key to get Miami on the board. Newton fed Murphy for a dunk to give Miami its first lead at 5-4. Reed then hit a 3-pointer and converted a steal into a layup to extend the run to 10.

Brown hit a three with the shot clock winding down and then Newton drove the lane for two to push the lead to 19-11. But Syracuse countered with an 8-0 run to tie the game with just under 10 minutes left in the half.

Miami responded with a 10-2 run to take a 29-21 lead. Vasiljevic hit a trey from the corner and a floater in the lane to push Miami’s lead to five. Murphy hit a turnaround jumper and Newton followed with a trey – his first since Miami’s loss at Louisville on February 11.

After the Orange closed to 29-26, Miami closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 36-28 lead into the locker room.

The Hurricanes now prepare for the sixth-ranked Tar Heels. Miami defeated North Carolina 77-62 in Coral Gables on Jan. 28 – the Tar Heels’ worst conference loss of the season.

And some postgame notes, also from UM Athletics:

• Miami’s starters against the Orange: Ja’Quan Newton, Bruce Brown, Davon Reed, Anthony Lawrence and Kamari Murphy. Miami is now 4-3 with those players in the starting lineup.
• Redshirt senior forward Kamari Murphy recorded his sixth career double-double and fourth of the season. Returning to his hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y., Murphy finished the afternoon with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. He has scored double digit points in six of the last nine games.
• Freshman guard DJ Vasiljevic finished the afternoon making three shots from beyond the arc, on his way to 13 points. In his first matchup against the Orange, Vasiljevic knocked down a freshman tying record, six shots from three and a season-high 18 points. Overall, against the Orange he has knocked down a team-high nine 3-pointers and has scored 31 points.
• Miami opened the game shooting 61.9-percent (13-21) from the field in the opening half. This marks the fourth time Miami has shot at least 60-percent from the field this season, most recently shooting 9-of-15 (60.0%) in the second half against Georgia Tech on Feb. 15.
• As a team, the Canes shot 6-of-11 (54.5%) from beyond the arc, as senior guard Davon Reed led the way with 10 first half points, to go along with three defensive rebounds.
• With 14 points this afternoon, Davon Reed has scored in double digits a team-best 26 times this season, including 23 of the last 27 games. Reed has hit at least one shot from long range in every game but vs. Duke, with multiple threes in 21 contests, after knocking down three today.
• Miami led Syracuse 36-28 at the half, which marked the 22nd time this season the Canes have held the halftime lead. Miami owns a 19-3 record when leading at the break.
• The Hurricanes entered the ACC Tournament as the No. 9 seed for the fourth time, while facing off against the Orange for the first time. UM improved to 2-2 all-time as the nine seed.
• Recording five rebounds this afternoon, freshman guard Bruce Brown has grabbed at least four rebounds in 25 of 31 games.
• Miami improves to 8-17 all-time against Syracuse, and 3-3 under head coach Jim Larrañaga.

Miami (21-10) advances to play ACC Regular Season Champion and #1 seed North Carolina (26-6) in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday. Tip-off will again be at 12:00 Noon ET. Miami defeated North Carolina 77-62 on January 28th in the only meeting between these teams in the ACC Regular Season.

Go Canes