DENVER – Only seven seconds passed, but to Josh Pace, it seemed like a lifetime.

‘That was the longest seven seconds I’ve ever experienced,’ said Pace, a junior.

To forward Hakim Warrick, the shots just never seemed to end.

‘It seemed like they got five shots off there,’ Warrick said.

Actually, just two, both missed by Maryland freshman D.J. Strawberry, as the fifth-seeded Syracuse men’s basketball team survived a late rally by No. 4 Maryland, 72-70, in front of 19,405 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, advancing to the Sweet 16. There, the Orangemen will play No. 8 seed Alabama on Thursday night at 9:40.

In a matchup of the previous two national championships, Maryland employed a full-court press to stifle Syracuse guards Gerry McNamara and Pace and spark another late comeback.

For most of the game, the press – which Maryland used on-and-off – hardly had any effect. Syracuse had four first-half turnovers compared to 11 for the Terrapins.

McNamara primarily handled the ball for SU, even after he picked up his fourth foul with nine minutes left.

The sophomore broke Maryland’s press most effectively. SU coach Jim Boeheim said McNamara’s poise is the only reason SU won.

‘(Gerry) almost couldn’t play,’ Boeheim said. ‘He couldn’t get it together. He’s an asthma guy anyway, and to play at this altitude, and then he was dehydrated, and couldn’t get going. I thought he was going to have to come out of the game (when he picked up his fourth), and if he came out of the game, we’d have lost the game. Right there. That’s why I didn’t take him out. Because we’d have had to put Louie in, and he’s not ready as a freshman to handle that press.’

But the Terps keyed in on McNamara, leaving Pace, the inbounds passer, no choice but to feed centers Craig Forth and Jeremy McNeil to avoid a five-second violation.

Then the Terps were able to foul someone besides McNamara – SU’s best free-throw shooter at an 87-percent clip. Besides McNamara, SU shot 17 for 30 from the foul line.

Forth especially struggled, missing all five foul shots he took, including four in the game’s last minute.

Aside from the free throws, Forth played a big role in SU’s win. The junior hit 5 of 7 shots, scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. For most of the second half, he played solid defense with four fouls.

Forth also helped SU erase a minus-27 rebounding deficit over its previous two games, when Boston College and Brigham Young combined to outrebound SU, 77-50.

Saturday, the Terps only gained a 40-38 advantage, and each team grabbed 12 offensive boards.

‘(Craig) really helped us down low,’ Warrick said. ‘He really shut down that middle rebounding. We’ve been getting outrebounded by plus-10 these last couple games. So it was big for him to get in there and get a double-double for us like that. That was big for our win.’

But that almost didn’t happen. Maryland used another late-game rally – the Terps won games against North Carolina State and Duke after trailing by 19 and 12, respectively – but this time it fell just short.

Free throws were a large part of that, as the Terps missed five of their last seven free throws, forcing Maryland to foul in desperation.

That allowed McNamara to nail a late free throw, putting SU up two. Then, after Strawberry missed the lay-ups, SU celebrated its tight win.

‘We knew Maryland was going to make a run because they always make a run,’ Pace said. ‘Maryland is the ACC champion, so they’re not a bad team. The last two minutes we sort of let up. But they’re a very good team. They kept coming back. So this is a good win.’

Said Warrick: ‘It shows we were a pretty good team without Carmelo (Anthony) and Kueth (Duany). A lot of people counted us out when those two left. But we’re right back in the Sweet 16 and hopefully we can get right back to the Final Four and make a run at the national championship.’

Published on March 21, 2004 at 12:00 pm