BUFFALO, N.Y.: It's the first half of Syracuse's exhibition game versus Niagara, and in his third collegiate outing, Ryan Moesch is facilitating.

The Orange are already up 14 on Niagara, and Gerry McNamara's latest play call is developing beautifully. Fellow newcomer Abdramane Siby set a screen up top for his point guard, and Sadiq White Jr. followed suit with a down screen to try and free up Siby. The seven-footer moved toward the rim with Niagara big man Fidel Rotta out of the picture: if there was ever a time to wake up the Syracuse faithful with an alley-oop, it was now.

Moesch saw the situation and executed. His lob pass rose up to 12 feet off the ground, where only Siby could grab it. The game didn't develop this way, but in the moment, it felt like a rout was on.

All in all, Moesch had his share of good and bad plays on Saturday (and some okay ones that could've gone bad against an ACC defense). Through the highs and lows, though, McNamara kept a long leash on his true freshman. If this is a preview of what's to come, the in-state product will have had a similar debut campaign to ... well ... his head coach.

"Moesch has been really positive through [these exhibitions]," McNamara said postgame. "Every game that we've played, he's come in and changed the game."

To clarify, the circumstances connect Moesch and McNamara more than their game results do. As a top-30 recruit, Gerry was an immediate power-conference starter, and it took just that first season for him to become an established college guard.

Moesch measures a little smaller (6-foot even to Gerry's 6-foot-2), and his recruiting rank is much lower (190th in 247Sports Composite). His starting spot is far from guaranteed with a stable of veteran guards on Syracuse's roster. Through it all, Moesch has played at least 20 minutes in all three of his team's scrimmages, and like his head coach, the ball has found his hands late.

Heading into Saturday's game in Western New York, the odds were low that Syracuse would need to make any big plays late against KenPom No. 310 Niagara. At the under-eight timeout, though, Greg Paulus' Purple Eagles had shrugged off a 17-point deficit to be down just four. Former Metro stalwarts Amarri Monroe and Gavin Doty were both on the court, boasting previous success against the Purple Eagles, but it was Moesch who took matters into his own hands.

After receiving the ball on the perimeter, the freshman went to work on Youngstown State transfer Tae Blackshear. Blackshear may be a good defender in the Metro this season, but after an offseason where Moesch had to create with Garwey Dual guarding him, his presence wasn't slowing the freshman down.

"[Dual] guarding me every day has just been so good for my game and ... my development," Moesch said.

A few dribbles got him into the restricted arc, and a quick push shot went through. The Orange went up by six. On the next possession, Moesch caught the ball in the left corner, Blackshear still assigned to him. A few more dribbles led to a pull-up with the same result. The Orange went up by eight.

Fast forward to the game's final minute and Moesch is still on the floor, still looking to prove his mettle. As Italian guard Samuele Miccoli drove down the lane, the freshman's left arm popped the ball free and into Dual's hands. The veteran college guard passed it back to his young teammate, and from there, Moesch's eyes were glued downcourt, where he dribbled until an intentional foul came. The situation may not be as big as a pivotal ACC matchup in January, but early returns on the freshman's poise at the line are good: he hit both shots.

Of course, if McNamara is going to rely on Moesch even a little this season, he'll have to live with freshman mistakes. About a minute prior to his consecutive makes, the guard used his burst to track down his own missed floater. It was a good hustle play that brought scattered cheers from the few thousand in attendance. Another pick and roll with Siby was eventually called, but this time, Moesch tried to hit his big too soon with a pass that fell into no man's land.

An errant contest on Niagara's Bastien Rieber will be pointed out in a future film session: the opposing guard got three free throws out of it. Moesch left his feet a couple times with the ball and got away with it: ACC guards will be harsher. As opposed to learning these lessons in games that matter, Moesch is aided by an extended exhibition schedule to get a feel for Division I hoops. Even when Temple transfer Aiden Tobiason returns, early signs show the freshman will get chances to succeed, fail, learn and grow once the wins and losses count.

If those signs are correct, then there is ample time for Ryan Moesch to become an elite college guard. Over his high school career, he progressed from a solid scorer at a public school into a prep school leader Division I teams sought to add. The blueprint is there for a player who demands to be better.

"[Moesch's] a good player," McNamara said. "[But] at the end of the day, can you go be a player when players need to show up? Can you make a play? They tried to trap at the end, he busts the coverage, he goes out ... he understands [to] pull it up ... that's what point guards do."