It didn’t matter that Billy Edelin hadn’t even reached halfcourt yet.

He saw Hakim Warrick hustling down the court, ahead of the West Virginia player that had been guarding him, so Edelin tossed a perfect pass, and Warrick had an easy basket.

Mark it down as one of the seven assists Edelin made in Saturday afternoon’s men’s basketball game at the Carrier Dome between Syracuse and West Virginia.

Edelin had a season-high 12 points, 30 minutes played and seven assists, leading No. 7 Syracuse over the Mountaineers, 72-64, before a crowd of 29,077. Syracuse has won 12 straight games and is off to the best start in team history. Only twice have the Orange started 19-1, the last time coming in 2000.

Hakim Warrick led the Orange (19-1, 6-0 Big East) with 22 points, 16 of which came in the first half. Gerry McNamara added 18 points on five 3-pointers in the second half.

While McNamara and Warrick each played one strong half, Edelin’s play was the constant throughout. The junior set the tone for Syracuse in his best performance of the season to date.

‘(Billy) knows when to take advantage and get into open spaces,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘People don’t guard him, he’s going to make them pay.’

Edelin struggled through a nine-minute game against Georgetown on Tuesday, jawing with head coach Jim Boeheim on a few occasions and failing to score while turning the ball over. On Saturday, though, Edelin not only sparked the Orange offense off the bench with his shooting and assist-making ability, but he settled the offense down and enabled the Orange to come away with a close Big East victory.

‘He can get there and not only he can he score and make matchup problems, but he makes great passes,’ Syracuse sophomore Terrence Roberts said. ‘He’s a great spark off the bench right now. The more time he gets, the better he’ll be.’

After Edelin found Warrick on the long half-court pass with 4:55 remaining in the second half, Syracuse led by 10 and appeared to be on the verge of blowing the game open.

But West Virginia (11-5, 1-4 Big East) responded with a quick six-point burst on 3-pointers by Patrick Beilein, who had a team-high 17 points, and J.D. Collins.

With just under two minutes remaining, West Virginia suddenly needed just two possessions to grab the lead. But after Josh Pace missed a routine floater in the lane, Warrick grabbed a huge offensive rebound and fed McNamara, who nailed a 3-pointer and extinguished the Mountaineer’s short-flame.

‘Hak got the rebound and he didn’t try to force it back up,’ Boeheim said. ‘That’s a smart play. Not many guys make that play. Those are winning plays.’

Boeheim credited Edelin’s solid game with the open opportunities he got due to West Virginia’s constant double-teams of Warrick and McNamara. Edelin nailed a jumper from just inside the 3-point line early in the game, but also got into the lane and made high-percentage shots while manning the point-guard position.

Edelin’s 17-minute second half, when he contributed seven assists, also helped McNamara find more open space. McNamara hit five second-half 3s after going scoreless in the first half.

Edelin said he doesn’t feel like he’s at the same level he was last year when he consistently played 30 to 35 minutes a game before leaving the team. But after playing 30 minutes against West Virginia and consecutive 20-plus minute performances against Seton Hall and Notre Dame to start conference play, Edelin is striding toward his old self.

‘It’s not like nobody on my team knows what I can do,’ Edelin said. ‘I’ve done it before. But the more minutes you get out there, you get in a comfort level and get in-sync.’

Published on January 22, 2005 at 12:00 pm