Boos echoed throughout the Carrier Dome when a desperation heave whiffed to the right of the basket in Wednesday night’s 2K Sports College Hoops Classic consolation game, sending Bethune-Cookman and St. Francis (Pa.) to overtime.

The Syracuse fans were growing restless and had no desire to watch any more of the matchup of Tuesday’s losers. When Wildcats guard Antonio Webb nailed three overtime 3-pointers to seal a 63-52 win for Bethune-Cookman, SU fans showed their approval.

Webb, though, was merely pleased the Wildcats survived the scare.

After running to a seven-point, first-half advantage, Bethune-Cookman was outplayed by St. Francis in the second half. But the Red Flash, who controlled the ball for much of the final minute of regulation, couldn’t convert on ample opportunities.

Once the game went to overtime, Webb – who only scored six points in regulation on 3-for-17 shooting – knew it was time to get out of his funk.

‘When I hit the first one, I was like ‘Oh, here we go,” said Webb, who finished with 13 overtime points. ‘I feel really comfortable taking that shot in crunch time. I want to be the player who makes the shots to win the game.’

St. Francis head coach Bobby Jones recognized in hindsight that the Red Flash should have tried to prevent Webb from getting open, but credited Webb for rising to the occasion when the pressure intensified.

‘When a player gets in a groove, the only thing you can do is play no-cut and no-catch,’ Jones said. ‘You have to force someone else to beat you. (Webb) hit some incredible shots in overtime, and we could not recover.’

Jones admitted the Red Flash had its opportunity at the end of regulation. Bethune-Cookman knotted the game at 46 with 50 seconds remaining. The Red Flash controlled the ball for 48.5 seconds of the remaining time, but despite two timeouts and continued offensive rebounds, couldn’t score.

St. Francis continued to look for power forward J.R. Enright on the block, but either the Red Flash couldn’t find him or he couldn’t convert. Enright scored 19 points and grabbed 17 rebounds for the game.

‘That’s basketball; we drew up a play that we scored five straight times with and it just didn’t fall,’ Jones said.

The Red Flash’s biggest shortcoming was at the 3-point line, where it shot 4-for-26. The Wildcats nailed 8-of-17 from beyond the arc, including Webb’s three overtime 3’s.

Webb said he knew it’s rare to get a chance to play in the Carrier Dome and he wanted to make sure he ‘went out with a bang.’

When asked about the SU fans who just wanted him to go out, period, Webb laughed.

‘I didn’t let it affect me,’ Webb said. ‘We know people are here to see Syracuse, but we still did what we had to do.’

Published on November 9, 2005 at 12:00 pm