VILLANOVA, Pa — Villanova needed to shut down JoJo Marasco. The Wildcats had to close off Kevin Rice, too.

They assigned two of their best defenders to the task. But Syracuse’s two defense-splitting playmakers proved to be one too many Saturday.

“I think (Christopher) Conroy did a fine job on Rice. I don’t know quite how he got his goals,” Villanova long-stick midfielder John LoCascio said, flipping his stat sheet. “I can’t remember now, but he always does a great job on his matchup. I don’t know how JoJo did either.”

With Big East midfielder of the year, Marasco, shut down by Conroy in the first half, Rice grabbed hold of the offensive reins. He reveled in the role, commanding the attack with a five-point performance to lead Syracuse (13-3) to a 13-9 win over Villanova (7-8) in the Big East tournament championship and seize the Most Outstanding Player award.

Ultimately, Marasco proved uncontainable too, as the playmakers wore down the Wildcats’ pressing defense to dagger their comeback hopes. And the ease with which Rice dissected Villanova’s defense while Marasco was silenced gives the Orange dangerous amounts of flexibility as it peaks heading into the NCAA tournament.

After the game, Rice ticked through how he scored his points, responding to LoCascio’s confusion with deadpanned memory.

For much of the game, Rice’s management of the attack was almost mechanical – fluid, but automatic. His goal to put the Orange ahead just more than five minutes in was robust.

Rice took a casual pass from Billy Ward behind the net. He ducked inside his man, and half-diving half-falling off a shove from his beaten defender, Rice stretched his stick across the crease, jamming the ball home for a 2-1 SU lead.

“I think he has a great understanding of the game and he’s pretty much our quarterback back there, of the attack,” SU head coach John Desko said, “and he just gives us another threat and understands our offense really well.”

Marasco was shut down for the majority of the game. He could scoot away from LoCascio for a quick dump pass to a teammate or check back to the defense to help clear, but he wasn’t getting on the score sheet.

It didn’t matter, though. Rice found all the space Syracuse needed.

When Steve Ianzito sprinted about 40 yards down the left side off a whistled turnover, Rice camped out in his favorite shooting spot – to the left of the goal just more than five yards out. When his man slid to Ianzito, Rice showed for the ball, caught it and buried it.

The Orange was rolling, up 4-2 despite a tied-up Marasco.

Out of halftime, Marasco reminded Villanova and every fan in the stands, Orange or otherwise, why he wears SU’s No. 22 jersey, picking out a pocket of space inside the right hashes to assist on Derek Maltz’s 13-yard bullet.

“When you have JoJo teams are very hesitant to come off him or to give him any space,” Rice said, “and that opens up more dodging opportunities for everyone else.”

Marasco is still SU’s go-to. He trotted out to midfield with SU’s other four captains to accept the Big East tournament trophy. But with the Wildcats pressing for their postseason lives in the closing minutes of Saturday’s final, it was the sophomore, Rice, exploiting another VU defensive mix-up.

The timer was on, the ball was out of bounds on the right sideline. Rice ran it in, nobody slid to him. Wheeling into shooting position just above the right goal line, a VU defender finally stepped to him. As soon as he did, Rice dished to Dylan Donahue, seven yards up and 45 degrees from goal, who finished with 6:47 to play.

“That kind of was the game,” VU head coach Michael Corrado said.

Now SU awaits its NCAA tournament seeding fate. But whichever team the Orange meets in the first, or any round, its opponents will have to find ways to silence two SU playmakers.

With the postseason fully upon them, Marasco and Rice are making their teammates better.

Said Desko: “I think guys are working off the ball harder when they know guys like JoJo and Kevin have the ball in their stick.”

Published on May 4, 2013 at 5:35 pm

Contact Jacob: [email protected] | @Jacob_Klinger_