Related: Guard depth lacking even as Williams joins team

Dec. 15, 10:44 p.m. — With 12:45 left in the second half, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim turned to his bench and signaled down to one of the last seats. He wanted walk-on guard Justin Thomas.

‘I was just as surprised as anyone else,’ the soft-spoken Thomas said. ‘I had no clue.’

When Thomas entered the action a minute later, Syracuse led by 47 points. The game was already out of hand by halftime, thanks to a Syracuse shooting effort almost unparalleled in school history.

The Orange defeated East Tennessee State, 125-75, Saturday night in front of 16,508 at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse shot a blistering 75.8 percent from the field, the best mark in school history. At halftime, Syracuse had 68 points, two shy of the school record.

The 125 points were the most since Dec. 19, 1989, a 129-72 win against C.W. Post. And the 15 3-pointers made on Saturday ties a school record.

‘We moved the ball well. We had some real good looks early,’ Boeheim said. ‘You know, when you’re making shots, the game’s a lot easier. People have been making shots against us and tonight we made a whole bunch of shots.’

But all is not well for Syracuse. Junior guard Eric Devendorf injured his leg less than a minute into the second half. Devendorf fell awkwardly near the Syracuse bench after a Paul Harris basket and appeared to twist his left knee. He fell into assistant coach Mike Hopkins’ lap and had to be helped off the floor.

Boeheim said the extent of the injury is unknown and Devendorf will undergo tests Sunday morning.

‘I’m going to wait until (Sunday),’ Boeheim said. ‘Obviously, it doesn’t look great. But we’ll find out.’

Also, it appears Josh Wright’s Syracuse career is over. The senior guard did not practice all week and was not on the bench Saturday night. ‘Josh Wright did not come to practice this week, so I assume he’s not going to play basketball anymore this year,’ Boeheim said.

Thomas was one of 11 Syracuse (7-3) players that saw the floor against ETSU. The only player who saw the court that didn’t score was Jake Presutti. Everything clicked for Syracuse. Once the shots started falling, the points kept coming.

Twelve of Syracuse’s 15 3-pointers came during the first half. Donte Greene scored 20 points in the first half alone. He finished with 25 to lead the team – in only 26 minutes of play. Devendorf had 19 points in 19 minutes. Arinze Onuaku had 19 points on 9-for-9 shooting. Rick Jackson was 6-for-6 for 13 points.

Syracuse used a 16-0 run to start the game and made its first seven shots before Greene missed a wide-open 3-pointer. Even after that, it felt like any 3-pointer chucked up by the Orange would fall. Syracuse made 12-of-19 3-pointers in the first half, including five by Devendorf.

‘I think having a week off helps us out,’ Greene said. ‘… I came in and probably took like 2,000 shots this whole week. Just shooting the ball, it showed tonight that we have been working on it and our defense is definitely getting better.’

It looked like the Syracuse shooting was contagious. By the end of the game, even Harris had made a 3-pointer, just the fifth of his career.

‘The way we were shooting early? Yeah, (it was contagious),’ Harris said. ‘I came out in the second half and my shot started falling, too.’

With 10:57 left in the second half, an Onuaku lay-in gave Syracuse 101 points.

With 2:37 left, Syracuse football wide receiver Mike Williams made a lay-up. Then, he made a 3-pointer. He finished with seven points on 3-of-3 shooting. Saturday was his first game as a member of the team.

Even when East Tennessee State (4-5) made a run, cutting the Orange advantage to 38-27 with 6:40 to go in the first half, Syracuse responded in a heartbeat. SU ripped off 11 straight points and proceeded to go on a 17-2 run to seal the game before even the first 20 minutes expired.

Greene described the 50-point win as a ‘controlled pick-up game.’ When Harris was told of Syracuse’s stats beyond the arc, he kept saying ‘wow.’ In a season where the Orange has been burned by opponents’ hot shooting, Syracuse finally broke out – and everyone was involved.

‘It’s unbelievable,’ Thomas said. ‘Some of us on the end of the bench were just mesmerized. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.’

Return to dailyorange.com for an update on Devendorf and more basketball coverage.

Published on December 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm