ROSEMONT, Ill. – Wes Johnson thought Will Walker’s shot looked off, but he knew just as easily this shot could win the game for DePaul. As he watched Walker hoist the shot from the right-top arch with Syracuse leading 59-57, and three seconds left, there was nothing Johnson could do but wait.

‘I was just hoping it didn’t go in because I really wanted to go back home because it was going to be a long plane ride back home,’ Johnson said. ‘It was a good look for him.’

Apparently, the look wasn’t good enough. Walker’s shot was slightly to the left of the basket, and although the Blue Demons got the offensive rebound, they didn’t have enough time to attempt another shot. The buzzer sounded, and Syracuse escaped Allstate Arena with a tight 59-57 win over the Big East bottom feeders.

Syracuse overcame an 18-point deficit, its largest of the season, and withstood a late DePaul surge to down the Blue Demons in front of a crowd of 11,554 Saturday. Syracuse led for just 3:37, but overcame lethargic play early to avoid an embarrassing loss to the Blue Demons.

‘They came out hot and its tough and you have to fight through it,’ shooting guard Andy Rautins said. ‘ We chipped away and we got better as the game professed and we should have been better on the glass, but Rick had a couple of blocks down the stretch and a couple big rebounds and a huge dunk by Wes. We made plays when it mattered.’

The game began a lot like SU’s win over Georgetown with DePaul zipping the ball around the perimeter and hitting shots. When it found the weak spot in the zone, the Blue Demons capitalized on close shots and hit eight of their first nine shots.

Syracuse couldn’t find its rhythm offensively, as Rautins missed three 3-point shots and the team kept turning the ball over. Unlike Monday, where Syracuse sliced away at Georgetown’s lead quickly after trailing 14-0, the Orange found itself down 33-15 to the Blue Demons.

A defensive change, though, helped the Orange climb back into the game. After a 9-0 run to make it 33-24, Syracuse utilized a full-court press defense that befuddled DePaul. The Blue Demons offense struggled with the extra press, and Syracuse would cut the lead to 33-31, ultimately trailing just 35-31 at the half.

‘I think we’re a little slow coming out and it seemed they wanted it a little bit more in the first half and they were making all the shots,’ sophomore Kris Joseph said. ‘ They were beating us to the rebounds and loose balls and it took us a while for us to click and after we started pressing and we got on board a little bit and our momentum got us going. I think that helped us out once we stated pressing, it helped us out tremendously.’

Still, Syracuse found itself trailing 54-49 in the second half with 5:31 remaining. The upset was looming, and as Walker shot a 3 with 4:37 left, it seemed as if it went in, this could be the game. The ball rattled out and the Orange never looked back.

Scoop Jardine, who supplanted Brandon Triche in the second half, hit a pull-up 3 in transition to cut the lead to two as the pro-Syracuse crowd started getting rowdy. One possession later, Johnson slammed home two of his team-high 16 points to tie the game with 3:37 left. After trailing by 18, Syracuse had tied the game. DePaul was feeling the heat, and Syracuse was poised for a comeback.

Thirty-three seconds later, Jardine gave the Orange its first lead of the game at 56-54 with 3:37 left and Syracuse never looked back. The Orange ballooned its lead to 59-54, before watching nervously as Walker’s shot missed by mere inches.

‘After I got the dunk and Scoop had the lay-up, I think the momentum shifted or way,’ Johnson said. ‘I think them not having timeouts to slow our momentum down (helped too). I think that point in the game turned the game around.’

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim constantly talks about how winning any Big East road game is a challenge, and echoed the same message after today’s victory. It wasn’t pretty, and probably not as would’ve expected it. Then again, the 34-year old head coach wasn’t exactly singing his team’s praises.

‘We stunk and I don’t think there’s any other way to sugar coast it,’ Boeheim said. ‘ We stunk. You have to give DePaul credit, they played well, they knew what they needed to do, but we just were awful, that’s all I can tell you.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on January 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm