SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Thanks to fifth-year graduate transfer Andrew White, Syracuse's offense hasn't skipped a beat despite losing its top three scorers from last year's Final Four team.

White, a 6-foot-7 wing who spent last season at Nebraska after transferring from Kansas, scored 16 of his game-high 19 points in the first half as the 18th-ranked Orange built a comfortable lead and cruised to a 90-46 win over the Holy Cross Crusaders on Tuesday night in a Brooklyn Holiday Hoops Invitational game before 21,405 fans at the Carrier Dome.

"We have a lot of guys who are capable shooters, and when the ball moves and you have a lot of talent, it gives guys an opportunity to get better shots than they would if they were focal point of most defenses," said White, who has scored a team-high 36 points in two games. "I think that's kind of what you're seeing early on."

Syracuse sophomore forward Tyler Lydon, who was limited to two points on 1-for-6 shooting in the season opener against Colgate, scored 17 points on 6-for-7 shooting Tuesday and tied for the team high with six rebounds. Lydon and White, who shot 5-for-10 from 3-point range, are expected to be Syracuse's top scoring options to replace the departed Michael Gbinije, Malachi Richardson and Trevor Cooney.

Fifth-year senior guard John Gillon, who transferred from Colorado State, added 15 points with nine assists and one turnover for the Orange (2-0).

Guard Anthony Thompson paced Holy Cross (0-2) with 12 points, while forward Malachi Alexander added eight points and a team-best seven rebounds.

The Brooklyn Holiday Hoops Invitational is a five-team, round-robin tournament that also includes South Carolina, Monmouth and South Carolina State. The Orange will face Monmouth on Friday, while the Crusaders will play Massachusetts and Harvard before resuming the tournament against South Carolina State on Nov. 25.

Holy Cross has lost its first two games of the tournament by a combined 171-95 score.

"I don't think you lose too much in November, and you don't win too much in November," said Holy Cross coach Bill Carmody. "For us, at least, it's building and you don't worry about the opponents too much, although maybe I should start. I have to start thinking about the things we have to build on and what can we do to improve."

Lydon, who was named to the Preseason Watch List for the Naismith Trophy, was a combined 0-for-11 from 3-point range in Syracuse's two exhibitions and season opener, and he missed his first 3-pointer Tuesday before making his next six shots, including two from beyond the arc.

"It's basketball, you're not going to make every shot," Lydon said. "I was off there in the beginning, but you've just got to continue to shoot and take your shots when you're open."

The Orange used a 3-point barrage to build a 49-23 lead at halftime. Leading 22-14, Syracuse went on a 14-0 run that included five 3-pointers (two by White to start the run and one each by Tyus Battle, Gillon and Frank Howard). White connected on three 3-pointers in the first half -- each in the possession after a Holy Cross 3-pointer.

"Threes add up quickly," White said. "They had a little run and they got relatively close, and I think we hit a three in four or five possessions out of eight or nine. When you have guys who can put a lot of points up, that really takes a lot of pressure off of the defense."

"It's just tough when you felt like you're there and you're contesting the shot and they're right on top of you, knocking down contested threes," said Holy Cross' Thompson, who kept the Crusaders within striking distance by sinking three of Holy Cross' five 3-pointers in the first half. "You feel like you got it going and they just come back and hit a backbreaking three."

For the game, Syracuse outshot Holy Cross 57.9 percent to 30.9 percent from the floor. The Orange also shot 52 percent (13-for-25) from beyond the arc while the Crusaders shot 28.1 percent (9-of-32) from long range.

Still, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was unhappy with his team's 2-3 zone defense, particularly in the first half. Boeheim said he expects the zone to improve as the team's five new players (three transfers and two freshmen) learn the defense.

"Mistakes don't show in a game like this, but they're there," Boeheim said. "If you keep doing that and you're playing a good team it's going to cost you; it's going to cost you big time."

NOTES: Oshae Brissett, a 6-foot-9 F from Athlete Institute Prep in Mono, Ontario, who is ranked No. 80 in the 2017 recruiting class by ESPN.com, announced his decision to attend Syracuse in an interview with former Orange star Leo Rautins during halftime of the Toronto Raptors-New York Knicks game Saturday. Rautins is a TV analyst for the Raptors. ... Crusaders coach Bill Carmody remains at 299 career wins with Princeton, Northwestern and Holy Cross and will seek No. 300 Sunday against Massachusetts at home. ... Syracuse announced that its Dec. 17 game against former Big East Conference rival Georgetown will be "Pearl Washington Day" in honor of the former Orange star who died in April from brain cancer at age 52.