By Matt Ehalt

Staff Writer

It was just 16 days ago that the Syracuse men’s basketball team was the laughing stock of Division I Basketball. In its second exhibition game of the season, the Orange fell to Division II Le Moyne at the Carrier Dome in what was considered a major upset.

Now, three wins later, including tonight’s thrashing of No. 13 California, Syracuse isn’t the butt of jokes any more. Instead, the Orange is looking like one of the hottest teams in the nation.

Behind a complete team effort in every aspect of the game, Syracuse dismantled California, 95-73, in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden tonight. Syracuse (3-0) will now play the winner of No. 6 North Carolina and No. 15 Ohio State Friday at 7 p.m. in the championship finale.

Syracuse raced to a 44-33 lead at halftime by getting to the free-throw line consistently and never let California back into the game. The Orange led by as much 20 points in the second half, and emptied its bench with close to five minutes remaining in the game. Point guard Scoop Jardine led the Orange off the bench with 22 points, while Wes Johnson added 17 and 11 rebounds.

In the first half, Syracuse controlled the tempo, consistently forcing its way to the basket throughout the half. The Orange racked up 19 free-throw attempts in the half, compared to just five for the Golden Bears (0-3).

SU trailed 5-0 early, but used a 17-4 run over the next few minutes to take a lead that it would never relinquish. California constantly battled to try and cut the lead below eight points, but could never slash the Orange’s lead less than that.

Despite coming off the bench, Jardine was Syracuse’s best player in the first half, scoring 14 points. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim pulled starting point guard Brandon Triche in favor of Jardine just a minute into the contest, and the redshirt sophomore from Philadelphia didn’t make him regret it.

Early on, he used a nice crossover move to get into the lane before finding Rick forward Rick Jackson to take a 9-5 five lead. While he had three turnovers to one assist in the first half, his play was largely what galvanized the team in its upset win.

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Published on November 18, 2009 at 12:00 pm