BOSTON — For 13 minutes, the Syracuse men’s basketball team appeared ready to reaffirm the myth it spent all season obliterating.

The one that said young teams are too tender and mistake-prone to win important games. The one SU had been questioned about throughout the year. The one that said pressure situations would coat their hands in sweat and turn their legs to pudding.

But after falling behind early against Oklahoma State in front of 18,389 yesterday at the FleetCenter, the No. 3-seeded Orangemen turned the No. 6 Cowboys into the bumbling ball-handlers during a 68-56 second-round NCAA Tournament win.

With the win, Syracuse (26-5) moves on to the Sweet 16. The Orangemen will meet No. 10 Auburn at the Pepsi Arena in Albany at 9:40 p.m. Friday. The Tigers advanced yesterday by beating No. 2 Wake Forest, 68-62.

Facing a 25-8 deficit to OSU (22-10) early on yesterday, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim resorted to a full-court press and a trio of reserves to turn the game around.

“Desperation,” Boeheim said. “That was the desperation press. When you’re 17 down and not going anywhere, you have to do something to get your team back in there.

“I was thinking of a tee time for next week.”

After instituting the press, SU wasn’t desperate for long. The pace of the contest changed from a trudging march to a breakneck sprint. With their offense sped up, the Cowboys committed five turnovers over the final 7:34 of the half and saw their lead cut to 31-25 at halftime.

“As I told (my team) at halftime, ‘Guys, if you continued to play like you had, you had a 20-point lead,” Oklahoma State head coach Eddie Sutton said. “We certainly should have had a double-figure lead at halftime.”

Stuck in a half-court game for most of the first half, the SU offense struggled. OSU’s vaunted defense pressured the Orangemen into eight turnovers before the 11:00 mark.

When the Orangemen managed to attempt a shot, they were rushed and well defended. Forwards Hakim Warrick and Carmelo Anthony hoisted fading attempts while guard Gerry McNamara failed to find his 3-point shot.

“They made me force my shots early,” Anthony said. “They made me play like a freshman.”

McNamara agreed that the OSU defense embarrassed the Orangemen early.

“We fell right into their hands,” McNamara said. “I rushed shots and didn’t do what a guard is supposed to do.”

After falling behind 25-8, Syracuse ended the first half on a 17-6 run, keyed by the press and the output of backup guards Josh Pace and Billy Edelin. Pace and Edelin combined to score 16 of SU’s final 20 points of the half.

It was the second consecutive game in which the Orangemen’s backups sparked them. During a 76-65 win over Manhattan on Friday, Pace and Edelin scored most of their 23 combined points while helping Syracuse pull away.

Yesterday, Syracuse needed the pair just to stay close.

With 6:17 left in the half, OSU began to feel the pressure of SU’s press. Within four minutes, Syracuse hurried the Cowboys into three turnovers, while converting three layups and a pair of jump shots. Pace and Edelin scored four consecutive baskets during the run.

In the second half, the press became even more effective. Syracuse only scored six points off nine turnovers, but the press forced the Cowboys into a number of full-speed charges at SU center Jeremy McNeil.

McNeil generally got the best of the collisions. He picked up three of his four blocks in the second half, frightening the Cowboys away from the paint. On his first block of the second half, McNeil swatted a Melvin Sanders layup attempt into the second row. Four minutes later, he rejected a jump shot by Tony Allen.

McNeil’s blocking acumen made an impression. For the rest of the game, OSU attempted awkward layup attempts and avoided McNeil rather than driving to the rim. After McNeil’s second block, the Cowboys missed 11 shots from within six feet of the basket.

“If any other player was back there, we’d say we just gave (a basket) up,” Warrick said. “Not with Jeremy back there. You could just see it. They couldn’t believe when they came back.”

While McNeil held the Cowboys down defensively, Anthony and McNamara found their offense. The pair combined to score 25 of Syracuse’s 43 second-half points.

Anthony, who had been stifled by the presence of Sanders, OSU’s defensive stopper, and three first-half fouls, broke loose by heading to the basket. Anthony and McNamara keyed a 17-4 offensive spurt, turning a six-point deficit into a seven-point lead.

With 12:35 left, Anthony gave Syracuse its first lead, freezing a defender with a stutter step and hitting a 3-pointer. Moments later, after a Pace block, Anthony drove past a defender and converted a layup. McNamara finished the run, nailing a 3-pointer from the right corner. After that shot, Oklahoma State failed to get within four points the rest of the game.

“I told myself at halftime that I wasn’t going out like this, I wasn’t ending my season like this,” Anthony said. “Then, in the huddle before the second half, I told the team I owed them a half.”

The win continues to showcase Syracuse’s ability to come back from uninspiring starts and nearly devastating deficits. Syracuse has come back to win eight games after trailing at halftime.

“This was a tremendous effort,” Boeheim said. “To come back from 17 points down against a good team is very hard, especially with young guys. There might be some truth to the fact that these guys are too young to know they’re in trouble, but I don’t think that’s true. These guys just want to keep winning.”

Published on March 23, 2003 at 12:00 pm