Nineteen thousand fans finally let out a pent-up breath of air after the Syracuse men’s basketball team did away with Rutgers last night. Instead of celebrating the win, the Syracuse faithful seemed more inclined to dart to the exits, knowing very well that the Orangemen narrowly escaped a shocker, holding off the Scarlet Knights, 63-61.

With the win, Syracuse snapped a two-game losing streak. The Orangemen entered the game the losers of four of five games. A loss may have put the defending champions in a precarious spot and an NCAA Tournament berth in question.

‘Whether it’s one point or 30 points, a win is a win,’ forward Hakim Warrick said. ‘And we can use any win right now.’

The physical game had all the markings of a February Big East matchup. After hot starts, both RU and Syracuse struggled to find the basket. Rutgers shot 29 percent from the field for the game. Half of its made field goals were 3-pointers.

It wasn’t glamorous, but the Orangemen (15-5, 5-4 Big East) pulled out an important conference win.

Warrick led the Orangemen with 16 points and 14 rebounds. A 65 percent free-throw shooter, Warrick made 8 of 11 shots from the foul line. His two makes with four seconds left put SU up five and made a Ricky Shields desperation 3 with two seconds left harmless.

But Warrick and the Orangemen handed Rutgers (13-8, 5-6) an opportunity to tie the game in the waning seconds. Guard Gerry McNamara and Warrick missed front-ends of one-and-ones with the Orangemen up three, giving Rutgers two chances to tie the game.

Both 3-point looks went to Quincy Douby. Both shots fell haplessly short. Shields, who made six 3-pointers, didn’t even get a touch in the two RU possessions while being closely marked by guard Josh Pace.

‘We kept Douby out a couple steps,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘He hadn’t made any yet. He’s a freshman on the road. (But) he could have made them.’

In fact, Douby didn’t make anything. The freshman, who came into the game leading RU in 3-point shooting at 44 percent, was 0-for-6 from the field, including five misses from beyond the 3-point line.

SU used its patented 2-3 zone to disrupt the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers found Shields for three quick treys to start the game but went on a drought soon after. The Scarlet Knights made only six field goals in the first half, three of which were Shields 3-pointers.

‘They shoot a lot better at home than on the road,’ Boeheim said.

Of course, they play a lot better at home, too. The Scarlet Knights dropped to 1-5 away from Piscataway, N.J.

‘This was a must-win,’ Pace said. ‘We had to have this win. For confidence reasons and for standings in the Big East. We just knew. When you look at the TV and in the paper and you see the standings, you know you have to get a big win.’

Rutgers led by as many as five points with 11 minutes left in the game after two Herve Lamizana free throws and a Shields 3-pointer. It was the first time RU lead since the score was 6-4 early in the first half.

Four minutes later, it relinquished it. Dunks by Warrick and freshman Terrence Roberts pulled the Orangemen within two. Two minutes later, Pace’s floater put SU back on top, 48-46. SU never looked back.

Still, the Orangemen never went on a big enough run to shake Rutgers. McNamara and Marquis Webb exchanged 3-pointers to make it a 57-54 SU lead with two and a half minutes remaining. The action left McNamara visibly gasping for air during SU’s next possession, which ended in a Pace floater.

Rutgers had the ball, down by three, with 37 seconds left. RU head coach Gary Waters called a timeout to diagram a play setting up Rutgers’ attempt to tie the game. But Douby forced two shots from 3 feet beyond the 3-point line that fell short.

It was the kind of break the Orangemen needed. The win helped their confidence, as Pace said, but made an even bigger impact in the standings.

‘This was important,’ Warrick said, shaking his head at the thought of losing five out of six conference games. ‘We would have been in big trouble.’

Published on February 10, 2004 at 12:00 pm