NEW YORK – The scene played out like a broken record throughout the end of the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s 57-54 loss to Boston College in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament on Thursday. The Eagles repeatedly found 6-foot-7 forwards Craig Smith and Jared Dudley open on the blocks. With the SU defense failing to respond quickly enough to the pairs’ open looks, they were able to take it strong to the basket.

Often, Orangemen defenders Jeremy McNeil and Craig Forth helplessly fouled Smith and Dudley, and Forth would foul out. This led to 24 free throw attempts for BC, 17 of which the Eagles converted on. SU shot just 8 of 13 from the line. This free throw advantage proved to be the difference in the Eagles three-point victory, as Syracuse outshot BC from the floor, 43.8 percent to 35 percent.

‘They kept going to the same plays,’ freshman guard Louie McCroskey said. ‘Once they’d get it into the middle of the zone, they’re either going to get a foul or a bucket. And we fouled them so they wouldn’t get a bucket.’

Dudley, who originally wasn’t even supposed to play for the Eagles this season, proved to be especially key from the charity stripe. Originally headed for prep school this season, the freshman signed late with BC after the Eagles unexpectedly lost three players. He connected on 8 of 9 free throws for the game to compensate for his 2-of-12 shooting performance from the field.

Despite SU’s Hakim Warrick, Forth and McNeil repeatedly swatting Dudley’s first attempts away, he fought on the boards grabbing eight of the Eagles’ 21 offensive rebounds to earn second attempts. This paid off for Dudley, especially down the stretch as he hit four free throws in the game’s final 90 seconds to give BC a one-point lead.

‘They’re big, so I know I’m going to make contact,’ Dudley said. ‘I shot double-digit free throws against them last time. I know McNeil likes to jump a lot on pump fakes and Forth likes to stay out of foul trouble. But that’s our game going inside and trying to get free throws.’

Gerry in controlAfter a series of games in which Gerry McNamara has hoisted up a number of rushed and out-of-control shots, the sophomore guard once again appeared in control of his game on Thursday. He scored a team-high 15 points, 12 of them coming on 3-pointers. More importantly, he missed just three of his 3-point attempts.

This number is much improved from recent games against West Virginia and Pittsburgh, when McNamara shot 4 of 12 and 1 of 7 from long range, respectively. Especially in the first half, SU’s offense operated in a smooth and balanced fashion, allowing McNamara to find open shots rather than forcing shots in a crowd of defenders. McNamara’s biggest shot came on a conventional three-point play with 2:17 remaining that broke a 51-51 tie and appeared to put the Orangemen in control.

‘I didn’t need to force shots, I didn’t take shots at the buzzer,’ McNamara said. ‘We were dominating them the whole game so I figured why force anything. I just took the shots that I had.’

Even with McNamara’s performance, another key component for SU struggled. In perhaps one of his worst performances of the season, Warrick scored only 12 points and missed two shots that would have given Syracuse the lead in the game’s final 30 seconds. Any many of the Orangemen admit that they need both McNamara and Warrick to be successful for SU to advance deep into March.

‘Like Coach (Jim Boeheim) says, without Gerry and Hak playing at their best, it wouldn’t be impossible for us to win,’ McCroskey said, ‘but we’d have to play extremely well to win.’

This and thatFreshmen McCroskey, Demetris Nichols and Terrence Roberts all played in Madison Square Garden for the first time in their collegiate careers. Darryl Watkins didn’t see time off the bench. ‘It was a regular game,’ McCroskey said. ‘In warm-ups, I was pretty wowed but then it was just like every other game.’ … With 6:49 remaining in the game, Warrick blocked a 3-point attempt in the corner by BC’s Steve Hailey eerily reminiscent of last year’s game-saving block in the final seconds of the NCAA Championship game. … The Eagles failed to connect on a 3-pointer for the entire game, shooting 0 of 9 from long range. … The Garden crowd noticeably favored Syracuse, rising to its feet whenever SU made a run or a Syracuse ad flashed on the Garden’s Jumbotron and standing for much of the game’s last minute to cheer the Orangemen.

Published on March 10, 2004 at 12:00 pm