Mike Sweetney and Craig Forth stood speechless in their respective locker rooms.

Forth had been awed into silence by Sweetney’s annihilation of the No. 19 Syracuse men’s basketball team’s interior defense. Sweetney, meanwhile, was shushed by Syracuse’s 88-80 victory in front of 20,702 at the Carrier Dome last night.

Unfortunately for Sweetney, his game-highs of 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks weren’t enough for the Hoyas (10-8, 2-6 Big East).

‘I scored some,’ a sullen Sweetney said. ‘But they made their free throws. I didn’t, and it cost us.’

Despite Sweetney’s assessment — he shot 10 of 19 from the free-throw line — he wowed five NBA scouts on press row who whispered to each other after nearly every basket he scored. Sweetney created space with his broad, 6-foot-8, 260-pound body, hitting layups and converting on a number of turnaround jump shots.

‘I don’t really know what to say,’ Forth said, when asked about Sweetney’s play. ‘He’s a big guy.’

Syracuse forward Carmelo Anthony, though, was more than able to help the tongue-tied Forth.

‘We couldn’t do anything about him,’ Anthony said. ‘We tried a lot of things, and we failed in every possible way. (Strong) doesn’t even begin to describe him. He dominated the whole game.’

Well, not the whole game.

For a span of eight minutes in the second half, Syracuse’s defense restrained Georgetown’s near-unstoppable force.

At the 11:08 mark, Sweetney planted himself in the lane and snatched an entry pass. As he turned to face the basket, SU guard Kueth Duany fouled him. Sweetney made 1 of 2 free throws, cutting the SU lead to 59-57.

But over the next eight minutes, the Orangemen (15-3, 6-2) held Sweetney to two points. During that span, they increased their lead to 13.

Sweetney has always dominated his counterpart, Hakim Warrick. In two meetings last year, Warrick, Syracuse’s lone inside scoring threat, scored a total of nine points.

In the first half last night, Warrick continued the trend, mustering only two shots. Sweetney used his unnaturally quick feet and wide body to block Warrick’s drives to the basket. When Warrick tried to spin, he spun into Sweetney. When he tried to fade away, Sweetney faded with him.

‘In the first half, they were pushing and bumping (Warrick),’ Anthony said. ‘That seemed to throw him off his rhythm.’

But when Sweetney lost his scoring touch in the second half, Warrick found his. And fortunately for Warrick, Sweetney was no longer guarding him.

After scoring a layup at the 9:56 mark, Warrick caught a pass at the free-throw line, faded away, scored and was smacked on the wrist by Hoyas forward Victor Samnick.

Two possessions later, Warrick spun into the lane and was fouled by guard Brandon Bowman as he banked in a layup. Warrick shimmied his way to the free-throw line, completing a personal eight-point run and extending SU’s lead to 69-59.

‘(Warrick) made a couple big plays for us,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘Those two plays he made for us at the end were big.’

After Warrick’s three-point plays, Georgetown would get no closer than six points. Warrick (11 points) was helped by four other Orangemen who scored in double figures. Gerry McNamara and Anthony had 22 points each.

Still, no one came close to matching Sweetney.

‘I don’t think the whole Dome could have stopped him,’ Syracuse guard Billy Edelin said.

Maybe not. But Sweetney’s teammates helped slow the big man.

The Orangemen survived Sweetney by sagging their guards in from the 3-point line. With McNamara, Edelin and Duany flashing their arms in front of Sweetney and SU’s centers pressing him from behind, Sweetney’s teammates struggled to pass him the ball.

When guards Tony Bethel and Bowman found their interior passing lanes cut off, they opted for outside shots. Together, Georgetown’s guards shot 7 for 22, including 2 for 7 from 3-point range.

‘We fronted (Sweetney) really well (during the eight-minute, second-half stretch) and forced someone else to make shots,’ Warrick said. ‘They didn’t hit anything from the outside.’

Published on February 3, 2003 at 12:00 pm