Columbia, Mo. – Last night, even Jim Boeheim couldn’t be negative.

In a hostile Hearnes Center, Syracuse defeated Missouri, 82-68, in a balanced performance reminiscent of its championship run a season ago.

Four Syracuse players finished the night in double figures in scoring, and the Orangemen’s trademark 2-3 zone defense controlled a much larger and athletic Missouri team, holding it to less than 70 points.

‘Our zone defense was the best it has been all season tonight,’ Boeheim said, ‘That was the key.’

Only two Missouri players managed to reach double figures in scoring, and preseason All-American forward Arthur Johnson was held to only eight points in the loss.

Matched up with Tiger forwards Johnson, Travon Bryant and Linas Kleiza, each weighing more than 240 pounds, the Orangemen were able to match them physically throughout the game.

‘It was good to be able to play this physical,’ Syracuse center Craig Forth said, ‘and still be able to play this well.’

Forth played a key role in the victory, scoring a career-high 18 points and collecting four rebounds. Forth said that Missouri’s focus on Gerry McNamara and Hakim Warrick opened up easy lay-ups, and he was able to finish around the basket, shooting 70 percent from the field.

When Missouri cut a 17 point Syracuse lead to only eight points with 3:35 remaining in the second half, Syracuse was able to maintain and add to its lead. It limited the Tigers’ offensive opportunities by slowing down the pace of the game and converting clutch free throws.

The Orangemen shot 80 percent from the free throw line for the game, making 23 of 28 attempts during the second half to preserve their victory.

‘Guys stepped up today,’ Pace said, ‘They made their (free throw) shots when it counted. It’s really what we need to do tonight.’

The extremely loud crowd at the Hearnes Center didn’t affect Syracuse, even in its first trip outside New York state this season. Forth felt the energy and noise level (reaching as high as 105 decibels on an arena meter) actually helped the visiting Orangemen.

‘We started off the game with a lot of intensity,’ Forth said, ‘I think we really fed off the crowd.’

Still on Winter Break from classes, Syracuse made the trip to Columbia, Mo., on Saturday. Warrick said the getaway weekend with his teammates allowed the Orangemen to become closer as a team and allowed them to focus on the game ahead.

‘I love playing on the road,’ Warrick said.

For Boeheim, who has been criticized in the national media for scheduling nine of SU’s first 11 games at the Carrier Dome, it seems like it was worth the wait to see the Orangemen play on the road. He said this was the type of effort he had been waiting to see from the defending national champions. He also said the intense effort both on offense and on defense is a great building block as Syracuse continues Big East play on Saturday at Notre Dame. For the first time this season, Boeheim didn’t have anything negative to say about Syracuse’s performance.

‘This was as tough of a place as I have ever been in,’ Boeheim said. ‘It was a tremendous effort.’

McNamara, who gave Syracuse an early spark with two 3-pointers in the game’s first two minutes finished with 17 points and seemed to sense that Monday night’s effort was the beginning of something good for Syracuse.

‘Tonight,’ McNamara said, ‘we had that intensity back, the intensity that we had last year.’

Published on January 12, 2004 at 12:00 pm