NEW YORK — After Syracuse started the game 1-for-6 from the field and fell behind in the first five minutes, it needed something to get going. The young St. John’s squad had the momentum and growing upset aspirations as the Orange’s open looks weren’t dropping.

Enter Fab Melo.

The Syracuse center turned the game around on back-to-back possessions. First, he grabbed a Kris Joseph miss and converted it into a two-handed tip slam to give SU its first lead of the game. Then, Melo swatted away a Moe Harkless layup on the ensuing St. John’s possession to start a fast break the other way. Scoop Jardine missed a contested layup, but Joseph grabbed the rebound with his right hand and tomahawked it through the hoop.

‘That definitely got us going,’ Joseph said. ‘Plays like that get our juices flowing a little bit. That’s what we need sometimes. Those big plays let other big plays happen. It’s just a continuous thing.’

The big plays continued as No. 2 SU ripped the Red Storm 95-70 on Saturday in front of 19,979 fans at Madison Square Garden. After missing three games due to an undisclosed academic issue, Melo scored a career-high 14 points and made his presence felt in the center of the 2-3 zone in his first action since Jan. 16 against Pittsburgh. Melo and the Orange (23-1, 10-1 Big East) dominated the glass, outrebounding St. John’s (10-13, 4-7 Big East) 42-31 and converting 16 offensive rebounds into 24 second-chance points on the way to the blowout win.

The victory gave head coach Jim Boeheim his 879th career win, tying him with Dean Smith for third all-time among Division-I head coaches.

‘It’s fun,’ Joseph said. ‘When you’re winning by this much in the Big East, we’ll take it. We had fun out there. Some great plays occurred, and that’s how we like to play.’

The fun started for the Orange on those back-to-back putback slams by Melo and Joseph. That gave SU its first lead of the game, and it never trailed after that.

The key to the Orange’s run in the first half was rebounding, something that has hindered Syracuse all season. But against an undersized St. John’s squad, the Orange hauled in 25 first-half rebounds to just 14 for the Red Storm. That helped it pick up 14 second-chance points before halftime, accounting for the 41-27 lead at the break.

‘We just went after it a little bit better,’ Boeheim said. ‘St. John’s is not big — that helps. I just thought we had a little bit better effort going to the glass.’

But coming out of halftime, Syracuse put the game out of reach, going to Melo down low immediately in the second half.

Rakeem Christmas found him underneath for an easy layup just 11 seconds in. After a Jardine triple, SU beat the Red Storm press and Joseph connected with Melo for an emphatic alley-oop.

‘We knew they would press the whole court, so we knew it would be easy for the ball to go inside,’ the sophomore center said. ‘That’s how I got my points.’

Melo’s buckets aided a 16-3 Syracuse run to start the second half, which ultimately turned the game into a highlight reel for the Orange. Syracuse scored 54 points in a dominant second half that sealed the victory.

And although Melo only finished with three rebounds and two blocks, both he and his teammates said his presence on defense made a major difference.

‘He makes it a lot easier,’ forward C.J. Fair said. ‘Sometimes, you might make a mistake, somebody might slip behind you and Fab’s right there to block the shot. It makes up for a lot of mistakes, and he covers a lot of ground.’

Melo was still able to practice with the team during his suspension, and that helped him to transition seamlessly back into the Orange lineup.

He said he felt great being back on the court, and although he set a new career high with 14 points against the Red Storm, he believed he had more influence on the success of SU’s 2-3 zone.

‘I know I affect the zone,’ Melo said. ‘I intimidate the other team. They’re not going to go inside to try to get layups, stuff like that. That’s what I do.’

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Published on February 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm