NEW YORK – Playing four games in four days finally caught up with West Virginia in the finals of the Big East tournament Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Hakim Warrick scored 20 and grabbed 12 rebounds, Gerry McNamara added 16 and Josh Pace contributed 13 to lead Syracuse to a 68-59 victory over the Mountaineers and bag its first Big East title in 13 years. It is the fourth league crown for veteran Orange coach Jim Boeheim.

Syracuse used a smothering 2-3 zone and mixed in a little pressure to keep West Virginia's three-point shooters off their mark. The Mountaineers made 35 threes in their three victories against Providence, Boston College and Villanova to get to the finals. Against Syracuse Saturday, West Virginia was able to hit just nine of 29 for 31 percent. The Orange also owned the glass, holding a 41-23 rebounding edge against the smaller Mountaineers.

A real key was Syracuse's ability to shut down West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle, who came into the game averaging better than 17 points over his last 11 games. The 6-foot-11 center was able to make just one of his eight field goal attempts for two points. He missed all four three-point tries.

"A lot of my shot attempts were off tonight," said a dejected Pittsnogle. "We just couldn't seem to hit much except for the rim and that's just about it."

Even though the Mountaineers were playing their fourth difficult game in as many days, Pittsnogle refused to use that as an excuse.

"I'm not going to blame it on the legs, in my opinion I was just off: I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn tonight," he said. "I don't think it was as much legs as it was not being able to hit shots."

After falling behind 5-2, Syracuse used and 8-3 run to take a five-point lead after a pair of free throws from tournament MVP Hakim Warrick. West Virginia was able to keep Syracuse to within three at 17-14, 21-18 and 23-20 before Joe Herber nailed a three to tie the game at 23. But the Orange stepped on the gas and built a 10-point lead at halftime.

Back to back threes by Demetris Nichols and McNamara boosted Syracuse's lead to eight, and then the Orange got a Terrence Roberts lay up right ahead of the halftime buzzer to make it 41-31.

The Orange (27-6) used a 10-2 run at the start of the second half to build their lead to 18, 51-33. West Virginia was able to answer with a run of its own, starting with a pair of Tyrone Sally free throws. Sally added a three and another pair of D'or Fischer free throws with the clock stopped pulled the Mountaineers to within 11. A Herber three closed Syracuse's lead to 10, and another Herber three pulled WVU to within seven.

A Mike Gansey floater with 8:10 pulled the Mountaineers to within five, 55-50, but Syracuse got four straight points to make it 59-50, and a Watkins follow of a McNamara miss got it back to 11, 62-51 with 3:33 remaining.

A pair of McNamara free throws lifted Syracuse's lead to 15, 68-53, before Boeheim emptied his bench. Patrick Beilein hit a three and Luke Bonner finished the game with three free throws.

Sally scored 13 while Herber and Gansey contributed 11 for the runner-up Mountaineers, which falls to 21-10. WVU coach John Beilein was denied an opportunity to collect his 500th career victory.

West Virginia was also trying to become the first team in Big East history to win the league title having played all four days. Just three other teams have reached the finals without earning a first-round bye. The Mountaineers were playing in their first conference tournament championship game since 1992 when West Virginia lost at Massachusetts as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Joining Warrick on the all-tournament team for Syracuse were McNamara and Pace. Gansey and Pittsnogle were picked from West Virginia. Villanova's Randy Foye was the remaining all-tournament selection.

"We made a lot of strides and we beat some good teams this week," Pittsnogle said. "We lost to a top 25 team and that's not a bad loss. Overall, we played well this week and we deserve what we got."

The Mountaineers are expected to be selected to play in the NCAA tournament tomorrow when the field of 65 is announced. The team is scheduled to arrive back at the WVU Coliseum between 12:30 and 1 pm on Sunday.

"Hopefully next week we can start another run," said Pittsnogle.