 "Photo: Rachel Fus")
Photos: Rachel Fus Production: Stephen Dockery
NEWARK, N.J. - Like a flashback - or a recurring nightmare - there was Syracuse's opponent stubbornly slicing down the SU lead again.
The familiar deer-in-headlights look from last Saturday was back, too. As was the palpable shift in momentum to peel back any of the Orange's youthful exuberance.
Even the head coach noticed it. Jim Boeheim called a timeout with 3:35 remaining in the game and yelled at his players, "You already gave the game away to Pittsburgh, don't do it again tonight!"
And they didn't. For a change, Syracuse hung tough. For once, it was the Orange fit to fend off the rally.
Seton Hall made a late run at a 17-point Syracuse lead but came up short, 85-73, here at the Prudential Center in front of a mixed bag of 9,800 Orange and Pirates fans.
Syracuse (18-12, 8-9) snapped a three-game losing streak, and its faint NCAA Tournament hopes are still alive. Next up is No. 21 Marquette on Saturday at the Carrier Dome (4 p.m., ESPN) in the regular-season finale. After that is the Big East tournament in New York City, beginning Wednesday. And there are plenty of must-wins to go.
But even with a comfortable lead most of the game, Syracuse found itself trying to exorcise its demons with less than five minutes remaining in the contest. Seton Hall (17-13, 7-10) was surging, down only 76-69 with 3:35 remaining, and using its full-court trapping press to fluster the Orange.
It was more than enough to bring back memories of Saturday's home loss to Pitt, when SU blew an 11-point lead in less than four minutes.
"Definitely," SU point guard Jonny Flynn said. "When you see them cutting into the lead like this…"
But unlike Saturday, Syracuse was able to hold strong. It broke the press and got Paul Harris two easy buckets inside. It knocked down free throws, nailing seven of its last 10. And it grabbed a couple of key defensive rebounds to seal the double-digit victory.
"You can't let up," SU forward Donte Greene said. "If (the Pitt) game didn't end the way it did end, we might have let this one go. Saturday definitely helped us."
Wednesday night's matchup provided exactly the type of up-and-down, high-intensity basketball SU is most comfortable playing, with a frenetic pace and plenty of fastbreak opportunities for easy scores. It enabled the Orange to utilize its athleticism - forgetting, maybe, its shortage of depth.
All five starters finished in double figures, with Greene hitting for a team-high 19. Junior Kristof Ongeneat was a surprise hero, scoring SU's first six points en route to a 10-point, 11-rebound performance, his first-ever double-double.
Syracuse also took advantage of its size and ability down low, out-rebounding the Pirates, 54-29, while limiting Seton Hall to just seven second-chance points. SU had three players finish with double-doubles, and its performance on the glass shaped how the Pirates could play their game.
"We couldn't get any run-outs because we couldn't get in the open court because we couldn't get any rebounds," Seton Hall head coach Bobby Gonzalez said. "The best way to attack a zone is to beat it down the floor and not have to face it every single time down the floor. And we had to face it every single time because we couldn't get a rebound and a run-out."
Seton Hall was able to make its run, though, with an effective press and hot shooting from leading scorer Brian Laing. Laing, second in the Big East in scoring, had only two points going into halftime but scored 18 in the second, including eight in a two-and-a-half minute span that cut SU's lead from 15 to nine.
It was at Syracuse started to feel a little nervous and, for some, to have a few flashbacks.
"It kind of let us know that we can't ever think it's over," Harris said of the Pitt game. "Tonight we kept going."
Twenty-two turnovers - 14 in the second half - at times made Boeheim throw his arms in the air, but he knows it could have been worse. After losing such a heartbreaker at home, its third straight defeat, and heading on the road to play a Seton Hall team fighting for its own postseason rights, Boeheim will take the win any way his team can get it.
"They're young guys," Boeheim said. "They struggle sometimes. They make some unbelievably good plays, and they make some unbelievably bad plays….But that's the way it's been."
zsschonb@syr.edu
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