On paper, it would appear the Hakim Warrick-Ryan Gomes matchup lived up to the hype. The statistics illustrate a dominant performance by Warrick – 25 points and 12 rebounds – while Gomes, the Big East’s leading scorer, was held to 14 points.

What you can’t see, though, is how Gerry McNamara’s monster game led to Warrick’s monster stats.

McNamara swallowed Providence’s defensive pressure and helped the Syracuse men’s basketball team to a 75-71 win over the Friars at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 12,993.

McNamara, who had 10 points, attempted only seven shots, his lowest total in conference play. But he stretched PC’s 2-3 zone so much that feeding SU’s big men was as simple as throwing the ball over the Friars’ heads.

‘They’re so committed to Gerry,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said of PC’s defense, ‘he’s going to get some openings in the zone.

‘We played very very well offensively. They executed and Hakim made his jumpers.’

McNamara made two of his six 3-point attempts and dished eight assists. But more importantly, he drew a double team throughout the game, giving the Orange a man advantage.

‘It’s like they were playing four on three,’ Boeheim said. ‘Gerry does so much more than people have an idea of. He’s a complete point guard.’

It worked so well, the Orange (17-1, 4-0 Big East) was able to widen its lead to 14, five minutes into the second half. The success forced Providence head coach Tim Welsh, a former SU assistant, to switch PC’s defense from zone to man-to-man.

‘For us to beat them, we have to limit their easy opportunities,’ Welsh said. ‘They wooed us to go to man-to-man – I thought our man-to-man was pretty tough.’

Welsh was right. The Friars cut the lead to seven when Gomes got free from Warrick in the corner for a 3-pointer. It woke up the Providence crowd and made the score 64-60.

Until that point, Gomes had a quiet nine points with only three field-goal attempts. The shot resurrected a ‘Gomes is better’ chant that had died down in the second half.

Where PC’s young defenders had struggled to muzzle the Orange, the big and experienced lot of Craig Forth, Terrence Roberts and Warrick extinguished Gomes’ scoring prowess.

‘They were bottling Ryan up,’ Welsh said. ‘Against a zone, you’ve got to take what the defense gives you.’

It forced Gomes outside and opened up the middle for PC freshman DeSean White who had nine points. His totals included six during the PC run that closed the gap to two points, 67-65, with 2:43 remaining.

Again, McNamara was called upon to defeat the Friars (9-7, 0-3).

With SU’s lead at three with 13 seconds remaining, Providence’s Dwight Brewington missed a 3-pointer to tie. Warrick leapt for the rebound and got the ball to McNamara, SU’s best free-throw shooter.

McNamara made one of two and added two more free throws with a second remaining to give the Orange its four-point victory.

‘No matter what, a win on the road is good,’ Warrick said. ‘When you start off your conference schedule with three road wins, it says a lot about this team.’

Published on January 15, 2005 at 12:00 pm