Montreal — The players from McGill University and their coach did not expect miracles. The Redmen were playing Syracuse, a revered team up here that made a Final Four appearance last season and counts several McGill players among its fan base.



» Box score

The mismatch was evident early. The Orange dominated from Dajuan Coleman's win at the opening tip.

SU built a 47-16 halftime lead and cruised past McGill 80-40 in the steamy Love Competition Hall on the McGill campus. C.J. Fair registered 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 11 minutes of the first half. He sank a sweet driving left-handed layup. He drained a 3-pointer. He was, essentially, unstoppable against a McGill team unequipped to guard him.

He also appeared to turn his left ankle and did not play in the second half, an ice bag taped to the sore spot.

The Orange relied on their athletic forwards vs. McGill. Jerami Grant scored nine in the first half and also sank the only 3-pointer he attempted before intermission. He led all scorers Wednesday with 17 points.

The game marked the point guard debut of Tyler Ennis, a Toronto native who started Wednesday alongside Trevor Cooney, Coleman, Rakeem Christmas and Fair. Both Ennis and Michael Gbinije — SU's alternate point guard — looked calm and confident with the basketball, though McGill exerted minimal pressure.

Ennis scored 11 points in the game and was 1-for-2 from beyond the arc.

The Orange shot 51 percent in the first half, made 43 percent of its 3-point attempts and all of its eight free throws. SU outrebounded the much smaller Redmen by 10.



The second half offered more of the same. All three SU freshmen — Ennis, B.J. Johnson and Ron Patterson — played the bulk of the fourth and final quarter. (The teams were playing by FIBA rules.)

Perimeter-oriented Simon Bibeau led the Redmen with 15 points.