No. 6 Syracuse pulls away late in win over m. hoops

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — For a man who's said he doesn't want to claim moral victories this season, men's basketball head coach Joe Scott '87 seemed awfully pleased by the performance of his team in defeat.

"We did what I wanted us to do tonight," he said. "We just didn't win the game."

For much of the night, it looked as if Princeton (1-1 overall) indeed had a chance to upset No. 6 Syracuse (2-0) in the teams' second-round matchup in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. When sophomore guard Max Schafer calmly drained an open three pointer with eight minutes, 42 seconds to play, knotting the score at 40 and knocking the wind out of a raucous Carrier Dome crowd, anything seemed possible.

But the Orange tightened their aggressive 2-3 zone defense and did not allow another field goal the rest of the night. All-America senior forward Hakim Warrick provided the exclamation mark, slamming home a rebound off a missed free throw with 1:41 to play that put Syracuse up nine, en route to its 56-45 win.

Senior guard Will Venable did everything he could to keep Princeton in the game, scoring 17 points — shooting five-of-five from the floor and six-of-six from the line — and grabbing six rebounds. But Warrick — who had 20 points and six rebounds — and company proved too strong and athletic inside for the Tigers.

Plenty went Princeton's way, however. After Gerry McNamara, the Orange's sharpshooting point guard, drained a three on the first play of the game, the Tigers dominated early.

Venable and his teammates picked apart Syracuse's man-to-man defense. First, senior center Judson Wallace found Venable on a backdoor cut for a nifty over-the-head layup. Then Venable penetrated and kicked it out to Wallace for an open three. Venable would add two more buckets off the glass, both on acrobatic shots.

By the time junior guard Scott Greenman hit an open three from the top of the key with 13:10 left, putting Princeton up, 14-5, most of the over 20,000 fans in the Dome sat in stunned silence. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim had seen enough, calling a quick timeout, and ordering his team to switch from a man-to-man defense to their normal 2-3 zone.

"We felt all along that we'd play some zone, but we felt we could get by a little bit longer than we did [with man-to-man]," Boeheim said. "As it is, we went too long."

The decision would prove to be a critical one, as the zone befuddled the Tigers for the rest of the first half. They scored just eight points in the next 13 minutes.

"In the first five possessions of the zone, we didn't even run an offense, we just stood with the ball," Venable said. "It was pretty obvious they couldn't guard us man-to-man and it was pretty obvious we couldn't do anything against their zone."

Scott claimed part of the blame after the game, noting that his team had only "dabbled" in its offensive preparation for zones over the first nine days of practice.

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With Princeton struggling from the floor, Syracuse made its way back into the game, as Warrick, Terrance Roberts and Demetrius Nichols went to work inside. Venable picked up his second foul with eight minutes left to the break and was forced to the bench for the rest of the half. While he sat, Syracuse went on a 16-5 run to take a 28-22 lead into the locker room.

Due to the foul trouble — Wallace, Greenman and sophomore forward Luke Owings also picked up their second fouls before intermission — Scott was forced to rely heavily on his three freshmen, at one point having them all on the floor. They looked especially confused against the zone and, not surprisingly, saw only three total minutes in the second half.

"It was the nature of the game that I couldn't put any freshmen back out there," Scott said. "I'm going to play them all year long, but it wasn't the right game for them."

The six Tigers who did play in the second half — the four non-freshman starters plus Schafer and senior center Mike Stephens — closed the gap. After a free throw by Warrick gave Syracuse a 34-24 lead, Princeton went on a 13-3 run to tie it, with 10 of the points coming from Venable and Wallace, who finished with 11.

"Our older guys have to make us win the game," Scott said. "They showed us in the second half that they figured out what do against that zone. They figured it out on their own, made plays on their own."

After the Tigers knotted the game with just over 10 minutes to play, Nichols hit an open three for Syracuse, inciting the home crowd. Schafer's ensuing three quieted them right back down, but it would be the Tigers' last hurrah.

Down the stretch, they could not manage to put the ball in the bucket, wasting several good chances when interior passes were knocked away. Making matters worse, Wallace spent two four-minute stretches on the bench after picking up his third and fourth fouls, both away from the ball.

While the Tigers managed just five free throws, Warrick chipped in seven points and McNamara hit a second three, as Syracuse won the game going away.

Perhaps the reason Scott sounded so pleased after the game was that his players didn't. While he praised them for their toughness and intensity, they harped on the need for improvement.

"I guess we can take something from it, but at the same time, no one on this team is satisfied," Wallace said. "Who cares if we lost to Syracuse by five points? I want to tell my kids I beat Syracuse, I beat Wyoming, I beat Duke. That's what we're trying to get to."