NEW YORK – Madison Square Garden is becoming quite the home-away-from-home for the Syracuse men’s basketball team.

With a large Syracuse contingent among the 9,596 in attendance, the Orange easily defeated St. John’s, 79-65, last night. It was the fourth game at the Garden this season for No. 7 Syracuse.

Forward Hakim Warrick led Syracuse (14-1, 1-0 Big East) with 22 points despite having multiple St. John’s defenders constantly hounding him in the post.

‘We’ve played here a lot and we’ll be coming back for the Big East Tournament,’ Warrick said. ‘It’s good coming back to the Garden, the Mecca of basketball. It’s a good atmosphere and we came out here hyped up.’

But so did St. John’s (6-5, 0-1 Big East). The Red Storm kept the game close throughout much of the first half by pushing the ball up court quickly on offense and scoring before SU could set its zone.

St. John’s keyed on Warrick, double-or triple-teaming him whenever he got the ball. The Red Storm’s defense frustrated Warrick for the majority of the first half, holding him to two points in the first 11 minutes of play.

‘They played tough in our zone,’ Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara said. ‘They got in the high post. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we knew eventually we were going to make a run. When we started playing defense, that’s when we made a run.’

While the SU defense began to limit the Red Storm offense, McNamara and forward Josh Pace jump-started Syracuse. With Warrick gathering most of the attention, McNamara was open to hit shots from the outside. Pace also took advantage of the double-team on Warrick, driving into the lane for easy short-range shots. The Syracuse offense eventually forced SJU to ease the pressure on Warrick.

That made Warrick free to roam the paint. He guided SU to a 12-2 run to end the first half. The Orange entered the second half leading 37-28, the closest the Red Storm would be for the rest of the game.

”I told (Warrick) it’s going to come,’ McNamara said. ‘He can struggle for a half or a couple plays, he can struggle for a week, but he’s still Hakim Warrick. He’s still gonna be the guy that gets 20 (points) every night. We expect that out of him and he expects it out of himself.’

It was a successful start to the Big East schedule for the Orange, with four players scoring in double figures. McNamara scored 19 points and went five of 11 beyond the 3-point arc. Pace added 12 points, including 10 in the first half.

‘I made some shots this game,’ Pace said. ‘A couple games ago, I was struggling a little bit. I got some shots to fall early and that was the main thing.’

Guard Louie McCroskey provided another outside threat for SU, hitting two 3-point shots and scoring 11 points. Syracuse shot well as a team, making 57 percent of its shots.

The Orange also managed to limit the SJU offense despite allowing 23 points to guard Daryll Hill and 20 points to forward Lamont Hamilton.

Overall, the Orange was just happy to add another win to its record and start the Big East portion of its schedule with a victory.

‘It’s important to get off on the right foot,’ McNamara said. ‘Anything can get you going in this league and maybe it’s a win at the Garden on the road. We just wanted to come out and get started the right way.’

Published on January 8, 2005 at 12:00 pm