Andy Rautins is a shooter. He knows it and so does everyone else. That doesn’t stop the 6-foot-5 guard from penetrating to the hoop on occasion.

‘If there’s a wide-open lane and the guy’s five feet off of me, I’m going to try to take it to the rim and get fouled,’ Rautins said. ‘Primarily I’m on the floor to shoot the ball, but I’ll drive it every now and then if it’s wide open.’

A game after the worst shooting performance of his season, Rautins scored 14 points for Syracuse in its 76-74 win over St. John’s. It was his second-highest scoring output of the season.

Most notably, Rautins shot 5-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range. It was a sign the shooter, who normally operates with a shoot-first mentality, is developing more patience on the offensive end as he sees more playing time.

Monday at Connecticut, Rautins was 0-for-6 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. That was coming off a career-high 18 points vs. DePaul on Feb. 3.

With 5:02 remaining in the first half on Sunday, Rautins drained a 3-pointer off an Eric Devendorf pass to bring Syracuse within one. On SU’s next trip down the court, Rautins took the ball at the top of the key and saw an opening on the left side of St. John’s’ defense. He drove to the basket around the Red Storm defenders and laid the ball in with his left hand.

He hit another 3-pointer two possessions later to score eight points in a row for the Orange in a 2:20 span.

Rautins’ scoring proficiency was especially important for the Orange Sunday. Demetris Nichols paced SU with a career-high 37 points, but no one else was hitting shots with regularity. Eric Devendorf scored four points on 1-of-5 shooting, Josh Wright scored six points and Paul Harris was held scoreless in 10 minutes.

‘He shot the ball extremely well as he did in our last home game,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘It really takes some of the pressure off of Eric when he’s not shooting well. It gives us another threat. They’re looking to help on ‘D’ and Andy’s going to get some good looks.’

Out of Rautins’ 136 field goal attempts on the season, 111 are from beyond the arc. Sunday, he fired fewer trifectas and attempted to become more of a balanced scoring threat.

Still, it was the dangerous 3-point shot that kept Rautins in the game and gave Syracuse a boost when it needed it midway through the second half. Down by one point, 57-56, with eight minutes to go, Rautins ripped off two straight 3-pointers to give the Orange a five-point lead.

Rautins, like many of the Syracuse guards, lives and dies by the 3-point shot. Syracuse is shooting 43.9 percent from beyond the arc in its six Big East wins. In its five conference losses, SU has shot just 28.7 percent from 3-point range.

‘When you have so many guys who can shoot the ball well I think it’s a big part of your offense to try to get it in there and shoot the ball and shoot it well,’ Rautins said. ‘That’s what we did tonight. Eric’s going to keep his head up, it’s no big deal for him.’

Rautins also stole the ball twice and one led to an important Nichols fast break, causing an intentional foul call on St. John’s. That play resulted in a five-point swing for Syracuse that raised the Orange advantage to six points with 3:36 to play in the second half.

Rautins rolled his injured knee with just under three minutes left in the first half, but he used halftime to rest it and said it was not a factor in the second half. After the game, he sat with ice on the knee.

Nichols said Syracuse’s big men did a great job all afternoon setting screens for the shooters – including Rautins. Boeheim agreed.

‘Our big guys screened well,’ Boeheim said. ‘That’s overlooked. If you’re a good shooter you have to get somebody screened and get open.’

Published on February 10, 2007 at 12:00 pm