Syracuse Outlasts WVU
January 22, 2005 08:38 PM | General
January 22, 2005
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Hakim Warrick scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Gerry McNamara contributed 18, all in the second half, to lead No. 7 Syracuse to a 72-64 victory over West Virginia Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome.
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| Syracuse's Billy Edelin, left, and Gerry McNamara, right, try to strip the ball from West Virginia's J.D. Collins during the second half in Syracuse, N.Y., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2005..
AP Photo |
A college basketball season-high 29,077 spectators braved zero temperatures and a predicted snow storm of up to 12 inches to see the game.
“I think I can count on one hand the number of times in 30 years you say you got better in a loss on the court,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “Usually you get batter after the loss but not during the loss. I think it’s difficult to recognize that but I think they all looked around and said we are pretty good.
“I felt it in the game each timeout; eyes were on me and they were locked into, hey, we can beat these guys,” he added.
Both teams were as cold as the temperatures outside the Carrier Dome to start the game. West Virginia (11-5, 1-4), struggling through its worst shooting stretch of the season, didn’t get its first field goal until a Mike Gansey follow up dunk of a Tyrone Sally miss after the first media timeout at 15:22.
The Orange (19-1, 6-0) couldn’t capitalize on West Virginia’s slow start and only led 12-5 at the 11-minute mark.
However Syracuse soon built its lead to 10 on a basket by Billy Edelin inside to make it 28-18, and led 31-18 before a D’or Fischer dunk with six seconds left cut the Mountaineers’ deficit to 12 at halftime.
SU built its biggest lead of the game at 15, 37-22, on a three-point play by Warrick to start the half but West Virginia was able to hover around the 10-point mark.
Trailing by 10, 65-55, after a Warrick dunk with 4:55 remaining, West Virginia was able to cut Syracuse’s lead to seven on a J.D. Collins three and then another three by Patrick Beilein got WVU to within four, 65-61.
“It looks like it’s over and now all of the sudden now we get it back,” Beilein said.
But McNamara responded with a three to push the Orange’s lead back to eight.
Beilein made one final three with 31 seconds left but a free throw by Warrick and a pair by McNamara sealed the game for Syracuse.
West Virginia has won only once ever at the Carrier Dome in seven tries, turning the trick in 1996.
Edelin, coming into the game averaging just two points per contest, was able to come off the bench and score 12 on six of nine shooting. Edelin also handed out seven assists.
Beilein led West Virginia with 17 points making five of 11 from three-point range. Sally, Fischer and Gansey each scored 11 for the Mountaineers, which produced its highest scoring total since beating N.C. State 82-69 back on Jan. 2.
Patrick Beilein looks like he might be coming out of his five-game shooting slump when he made just four of his last 32 field-goal attempts.
“He’s been working in the gym,” said his father. “The other day I came to practice and it was supposed to have been at 3 and he was there at 1:30, so he and I got to together and we looked at some flaws. He just needs to come off and play with confidence and that’s what he did today.”
Overall, the Mountaineers once again found the going tough from the field, making 23 of 65 shots for 35.4 percent but it did convert on 10 threes for 31.3 percent.
“We had a ton of easy shots, we were taking them and missing them and we’re going to start making them,” Beilein said. “We shot 30-some percent and had a four-game point late in the game.”
Because of the bad weather, the team has been forced to remain in Syracuse for an extra night before trying to fly back to Pittsburgh Sunday. West Virginia has another short turnaround playing Connecticut at the Coliseum Tuesday night.
