Not even a year old, the game is already the stuff of legend.

Josh Pace refers to it as The Buzzer Beater. Troy Weaver calls it a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience. Jake Crouthamel uses it as his blueprint for basketball atmosphere.

From any angle, Syracuse’s 67-65 win over Pittsburgh on Feb. 1, 2003, made up two of the craziest hours in Carrier Dome history. It included two buzzer beaters, three court rushings and enough post-game fracas to keep the Syracuse Department of Athletics in meetings for a month.

Just two days away from the Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse sequel, remnants from last year’s classic still fill the Carrier Dome: an extra security camera, more game-day personnel and, yes, a national championship banner.

‘Without that game, a lot of things could have been different,’ Pace said. ‘That was like a building block, and it gave us confidence to do everything we did. It was a huge win. It was a nail-biter, too.’

Even now, with the conclusion known and the key hoops memorized, the game’s last minutes make for heart-pounding drama.

Having trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, Syracuse came back to tie the game with 47 seconds left. Even more impressive, though, was how the Orangemen tied it.

With his team down two, Syracuse center and free-throw nincompoop Jeremy McNeil drew a foul. Having made just 29 percent from the line on the year – and, if possible, an even lower percentage in practice – McNeil somehow buried both shots.

Carmelo Anthony stole Pittsburgh’s inbounds pass and, with three seconds left, McNeil tipped in a shot to give Syracuse the lead.

‘The stars,’ Weaver said, ‘just seemed to be aligned.’

Students thought so, too. After Pitt fumbled an inbounds pass, SU students barreled onto the court – only to learn the Panthers had called a time-out with .8 seconds left.

Pitt star Brandin Knight then swished a half-court heave, but students rushed the court again, thinking the shot had come after the buzzer. SU head coach Jim Boeheim took over the public address system and asked fans to clear the court so officials could safely review the shot.

Finally, head referee Ed Corbett ruled the shot had come too late, and fans stormed the court again.

‘We’d seen court rushing,’ said Carrier Dome manager Pat Campbell. ‘But three times in one game? That’s just a major mess.’

Syracuse players climbed up on the scorer’s table to avoid injury. Pitt forward Donatas Zavackas allegedly wasn’t so lucky. After the game, the Panthers claimed that a student punched him during the second court rushing.

Syracuse officials spent hours pouring through video tape in an attempt to find the punch.

‘We never could,’ Crouthamel said. ‘There were a couple thousand people out there on the court.

‘You can plan with security, you can read all sorts of PA announcements if you want to, but when push comes to shove, you’re not going to prevent people from coming onto the court. It was euphoric madness.’

Lost in it was one thing: A monstrous win.

Had Pittsburgh, then the No.-2 ranked team, beat Syracuse, it would have earned its first-ever No. 1 ranking. Instead, Syracuse won it’s first nail-biter of the year and captured momentum it never relinquished.

After the Pitt game, Syracuse lost just twice – both times away from home to Connecticut.

‘We might not have become a lot better team afterwards,’ Weaver said, ‘but we sure became a more confident one.’

Syracuse’s support changed, too. Before the Pittsburgh game, Carrier Dome matchups against Missouri and Boston College drew about 20,000. After 31,000 experienced the Syracuse-Pitt thriller, about 33,000 showed up to watch SU play Notre Dame and Rutgers.

‘Fans loved what they saw,’ Crouthamel said. ‘It was an atmosphere to behold, and it was an incredible basketball game.’

Said Rob Edson, SU’s associate director of athletics: ‘Obviously, the whole night was a very unique situation. It’s something that we’ll probably never see again.’

But just in case, Syracuse made a few changes stemming from last year’s game. The Carrier Dome now assigns a particular camera to watch closely once the court is rushed.

Also, especially since it is an 8 p.m. game, extra security personnel will guard the scorer’s table and both team benches Saturday night, Campbell said.

‘We learned some things and made a few changes,’ Campbell said. ‘But we basically handled everything well. The main thing that I take away from that night is a memory. And it’s a really wild memory.’

Published on January 21, 2004 at 12:00 pm