Kueth Duany searched the bleachers for somebody who would understand what happened to the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s defense.

During a break late in the second half last night, he made eye contact with former SU point guard Allen Griffin and offered a quick assessment.

‘Too many open threes,’ he mouthed repeatedly.

Despite the margin of victory, the 98-68 victory over Colgate at the Carrier Dome was as much cause for postgame concern as for celebration.

The Raiders (2-3) stuck close to the Orangemen (2-1) in the first half by burying 8 of 13 three-pointers. Colgate led by a bucket, 46-44, with less than two minutes remaining in the first half before SU used a 10-1 run for a 54-47 halftime lead.

‘It was awful,’ point guard Gerry McNamara said of the defense.

‘It was non-existent,’ Duany said. ‘There were way too many open shots.’

Colgate’s barrage of threes began after SU led 41-30 with 4:45 left in the first.

Carmelo Anthony lost track of Colgate senior Tim Sullivan, who buried a three from the corner. Then, on consecutive possessions, guard Alvin Reed pulled up and nailed three-pointers before McNamara could put a hand in his face. Sullivan completed the streak by hitting another long-distance attempt.

‘It was like a bad dream we couldn’t get up from,’ SU forward Hakim Warrick said. ‘We just made things harder for ourselves. If you had told me before the game that would happen, I’d have said you were crazy or something.’

While Warrick couldn’t believe Colgate’s early shooting, other Orangemen weren’t surprised. McNamara played high school basketball against Colgate guard Mark Linebaugh, who made 1 of 2 three-point attempts.

‘You get a lead on a team and then you think you can coast,’ McNamara said. ‘We knew they had some shooters.’

But the foresight helped neither he nor Anthony, who left Sullivan wide open on all three of Sullivan’s three-pointers in the first half.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim estimated the freshmen each made 10 to 15 defensive mistakes in the first half and Colgate converted most into scoring opportunities.

‘They don’t give up a basket for every one they get, but they try to sometimes,’ Boeheim said.

Not all the blame, though, can be placed on Anthony and McNamara. They played the most minutes of any Orangeman (34 and 33, respectively) and, as usual, carried the offensive load.

For the third consecutive game, Anthony led Syracuse in scoring, compiling 20 of his 27 points in the first half — including 15 in the first eight minutes. McNamara, meanwhile, finished with 14 points — including 4 of 6 three-point attempts — and a tidy six assists with no turnovers.

‘My main concern is that they’re spending so much energy on offense that there is a diminishing amount of energy you have left,’ Boeheim said. ‘No one admits they’re getting tired, but Carmelo is getting tired.’

Syracuse’s defense improved in the second half with a return to its traditional 2-3 zone. In the first half, Boeheim refused to abandon the man-to-man defense.

In the second half, he switched between a press, zone and man-to-man coverage. Colgate shot 2 of 14 on three-pointers against a variety of defenses and was held scoreless in the final six minutes.

‘Our zone’s been good in every game we played,’ Boeheim said. ‘That’s a positive sign.”

‘The zone helped a little bit,’ Duany said. ‘I’d like to say it was the defense. We picked up our intensity a little bit in the second half, but they lost some of their juice as well.’

With Colgate tiring, the Orangemen ran their in-state opponent out of the Dome, outscoring the Raiders, 44-21, in the second half.

Still, the late firepower and margin of victory weren’t enough to appease SU.

‘We’re just not there yet,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’re a long way from where we need to be.’

Published on December 3, 2002 at 12:00 pm