Scoop Jardine’s goal every game is one that, in most, is unrealistic.

Hold the opponent to fewer than 10 points in a half. Never happened in Jim Boeheim’s 35-year tenure as head coach of Syracuse.

‘We had a goal, and we didn’t want them to score over 10 points,’ Jardine said. ‘When you set goals like that as a team, everybody’s going to work hard to try to accomplish them.’

On Saturday, that goal happened in Syracuse’s 100-43 beatdown of Colgate. The Orange allowed just eight points in the first half, playing in Boeheim’s trademark 2-3 zone and adding in a heavy dose of a man-to-man changeup.

The eight points Colgate put up was the worst first-half offensive performance in Boeheim’s reign as SU head coach. The previous low score was set by Princeton, when the Tigers scored 11 in the first half of a game played on Nov. 12, 1999.

‘They just had a bad game,’ Boeheim said. ‘They had a bad game. We had a good game.’

Sometimes, like with Colgate forward Yaw Gyawu’s breakaway, Colgate couldn’t even get a shot off. The breakaway for Gyawu should have been the one basket that came easy for Colgate Saturday. Gyawu streaked down the left toward the open basket, no one in front of him.

In came Kris Joseph. Syracuse’s junior forward took an angle down the court, eventually ending up side by side with Gyawu and emphatically sending back his shot with a monstrous block.

‘We really buckled down and took pride in our defense,’ Joseph said. ‘That was big for us.’

And other times, when the Raiders did get a shot off, it wasn’t pretty. That was evident in their first-half stats. Colgate shot a pitiful 3-of-28 from the field (10.7 percent). It went 0-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line. And no one player made more than one field goal.

Those stats led to more unique stats at the half. At nine points apiece, both SU guards Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters scored more during the opening 20 minutes than the entire Raiders team. At eight points, Scoop Jardine had as many.

The Orange swarmed to the ball in the zone. SU enacted the man-to-man defense effectively and gave itself experience that Boeheim said would be valuable down the road. And even in the few instances Colgate did get open looks, the Raiders couldn’t hit.

‘Colgate, they’re struggling, and they really struggled tonight,’ Boeheim said. ‘They had some open shots early, and they just didn’t go down for them.’

And those stats also led to a game that was well in hand within the first five minutes. By halftime, the Orange had built up an eye-popping 46-8 lead. Just four minutes into the second half, the Raiders had already matched their first-half total of eight points.

Syracuse’s swarming defense created 15 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. But the Raiders didn’t help matters by putting some passes right in the hands of SU players.

The Orange defense also finished the half with 10 blocked shots — three from James Southerland and two apiece from Rick Jackson and Joseph.

Even Brandon Triche got involved in the action, coming from behind and easily swatting an attempt from Colgate’s 6-foot-11 center John Brandenburg.

‘We’re just being active,’ Triche said of the team’s defense. ‘We’re taking more pride in it.’

And the turnovers also came frequently. Like when, on an inbounds pass, Southerland didn’t even have to jump to get a hand on Mitch Rolls’ attempted lob. He tipped the pass to himself, stealing the ball and bringing out the frustration in Colgate when center John Brandenburg gave Southerland a hard foul.

The turnovers created easy transition opportunities for the Orange. Jardine stole a pass and jogged up the court with Triche at his side. He left it for Triche, who threw down an unusual thunderous dunk.

‘I didn’t really know how to dunk it,’ Triche said. ‘I thought I was going to miss it.’

Triche’s dunk was another unrealistic goal that came to fruition. A goal that was achieved thanks to Jardine’s original goal.

‘We took the game as it was 0-0,’ Jardine said. ‘Don’t let them score.’

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Published on December 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm