St. John's University Athletics
Men's Basketball Falls To No. 17 Syracuse 65-59
1/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 7, 2004
By JOHN KEKIS
AP Sports Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Gerry McNamara scored 14 of his 23 points over the final 11 minutes Wednesday night to lead No. 17 Syracuse to a 65-59 victory over St. John's in the Big East opener for both teams.
The Orangemen (10-1) won for the 10th straight time and handed the Red Storm (4-7) their third loss in five games under interim head coach Kevin Clark.
Hakim Warrick had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Billy Edelin had 13 points, and Josh Pace had eight points and seven rebounds for the Orangemen.
Grady Reynolds led St. John's with 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Daryll Hill had 12 points and five assists, and Kyle Cuffe had 12 points. Elijah Ingram, the Red Storm's leading scorer with a 13.9 average, scored only three points on 1-of-12 shooting.
The Orangemen held St. John's without a field goal for nearly 8 minutes - from a dunk by Reynolds with 6:42 left in the first half until he converted an alley-oop at 18:20 of the second - and still led only 32-28.
But Warrick fed Craig Forth for a layup to begin a 10-3 spurt that gave Syracuse a 42-31 lead with 13:30 to go.
Cuffe's tip-in brought the Red Storm within 44-36 nearly 2 minutes later. Then McNamara hit a 3-pointer and six free throws and fed Warrick for a slam dunk to give Syracuse a 57-45 lead with 7:43 left.
Still, the Red Storm weren't finished. A 3-pointer by Ingram, two baskets by Andre Stanley and a pullup jumper by Hill closed the gap to 58-51 at 3:34.
But McNamara hit a 3 from the left wing off a pass from Pace for a 61-53 lead with 2:30 left and the Orangemen held on as coach Jim Boeheim went with all five starters throughout the entire second half.
The Red Storm matched the Orangemen shot for shot at the outset as each team hit its first three, then built a 17-11 lead at 14:03 as Hill scored six points in a span of just over a minute.
But after a follow by Reynolds gave St. John's a 23-20 lead at 9:58, the Red Storm scored only one more basket the remainder of the first half and trailed 32-26.
