MBB | Bear Necessities: Nichols scores 28 again, leads SU over Baylor

4 players hit double figures in season-high output for Orange

By: Kelvin Ang

Posted: 12/8/06

DEC. 16 -- Demetris Nichols lowered his head and walked slowly to the Syracuse bench. The Carrier Dome crowd exploded in cheers and gave him a standing ovation, but he hardly seemed to notice.

Still, the normally stoic senior forward grinned in the locker room after the game.

"I just try to help my team to win, that's all," Nichols said. "All my hard work's paid off."

Nichols matched his career high with 28 points for the second time in three games, leading No. 23 Syracuse to a comfortable 94-71 victory over Baylor before 17,690 fans at the Carrier Dome Saturday night. Nichols has scored 28, 26 and 28 points in his last three contests, smashing his previous mark for scoring output in a three-game span.

Sporting a seven-inch height advantage over Curtis Jerrells, the Baylor guard defending him, Nichols rarely hesitated to shoot the ball, going 12-for-18 from the field and 4-for-6 from beyond the arc.

"He's playing with a lot of confidence," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. "He's gotten better every year. I think he's still capable of playing at an even higher level, but he's playing at a very high level now."

Four other Syracuse players reached double figures. Darryl Watkins also tied his career high with 15 points, and Andy Rautins, making his first ever start, chipped in with 10.

The Orange (9-2) left the court at halftime with a 41-29 lead, but Nichols scorched the Bears (6-3) with four baskets in the first 2:34 of the second half to blow the game wide open. He scored all of the Orange's points in a 10-2 run that stretched the SU lead to 51-31.

Nichols started his spree with a turnaround jumper, and forward Terrence Roberts found him on the baseline for an alley-oop lay-up on the next possession. Nichols then buried back-to-back 3-pointers to force a Baylor timeout. Nichols allowed himself a tiny smile as he walked to the bench.

"The Demetris 10-2 run?" forward Paul Harris said, laughing. "It definitely boosted us up.

"I always said from day one that he's our best player and especially our best scorer. When he gets hot, I don't care if I'm hot; I'm going to give him the ball."

That is, except for one possession. With less than six minutes to go, Harris charged down the court with guard Eric Devendorf ahead to his left and Nichols wide open beyond the 3-point line on his right. Harris dumped the ball inside to Devendorf, who had it swatted away for an Orange turnover. Nichols reacted by grimacing and thumping his chest with his right fist.

The next time Harris held the ball, he was standing on the sidelines looking to inbound the ball. He knew exactly who he would find.

Harris dumped a short pass to Nichols just inside the 3-point arc, and Nichols swirled around on a fade-away jumper that swished through the net. The basket, with 5:38 remaining, was Nichols' final one of the game and gave the Orange an insurmountable 78-56 lead.

"Yeah, I feel like (I can't miss) a lot of times," Nichols said. "My teammates do a great job of giving me the ball and trying to find me."

Nichols may have received the loudest cheers of the night when he left the game, but the ones local favorite Rautins received during the starting lineup introductions weren't far behind. Boeheim did not explain at his post-game press conference why he chose to start Rautins over Devendorf or Harris.

The Jamesville native finished with his third double-digit scoring output of the season on 4-for-10 shooting. He scored the first Syracuse basket of the game when he pulled up for a trey 38 seconds in.

"It was definitely a special moment for me; it's something I've dreamed of since I was a little kid," Rautins said. "(But) the moment was over a couple of minutes later when you realize you have to get down on the floor and play a game."

Rautins started it, but Nichols propelled Syracuse to a commanding first-half lead with hot shooting early in the game. He scored seven points in a 14-5 run that gave Syracuse a 23-11 lead with 12:33 remaining in the first half.

His final basket of the run came with 13:18 to go, when he collected the ball beyond the arc, pump-faked and dribbled two steps to his left, and then sank a fade-away 3-pointer.

"He's putting the ball on the floor now, which he didn't do in his first three years," Boeheim said. "(He's) making shots off the dribble, and that's all part of the process to get better."