No. 7 Syracuse Too Much For Miami, 67-55
Jan. 8, 2000
MIAMI (AP) – Syracuse center Etan Thomas already had the respect of theMiami Hurricanes. Now he has it from their fans, as well.
All Thomas could do was laugh as a small group of Hurricanes fans left theMiami Arena on Saturday yelling, “Hey Thomas, come back and play for theHeat.”
Thomas had 12 points and 11 rebounds as seventh-ranked Syracuse beat theHurricanes 67-55 to win its first game away from home.
“It was kind of funny because those same people were trash talking me thewhole game,” said Thomas, who also blocked two shots, including one with abouta minute remaining to seal the victory. “Then they turned it around. I guess Igot their respect.”
The Orangemen (11-0, 2-0 Big East) began the season with 10 consecutive homewins against overmatched opponents. They showed Saturday that their success inthe Carrier Dome wasn’t a fluke.
Four Syracuse starters scored in double figures. Damone Brown and RyanBlackwell had 14 apiece and Jason Hart added 14 points, eight rebounds and fiveassists.
Miami (8-6, 1-1), which trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half,cut the lead to 60-55 with 1:31 to play. Mario Bland, who scored five pointsduring the Hurricanes’ 12-3 run that put them back in the game, got the ball inthe lane but Thomas rejected his turnaround jumper.
Off the block, Brown fed Tony Bland at the other end for a layup. Bland wasfouled and converted the three-point play to put the Orangemen up 63-55 with 47seconds to play.
Syracuse, using a spread offense to take time off the clock, turned the ballover several times down the stretch.
“We really haven’t had enough opportunity to work on that this year,”Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “We’ve been ahead pretty comfortably in mostgames. We had enough margin that even with the mistakes – and even if Etandoesn’t make that block – it still would have been tough for (Miami).
“It was a real good first half, and we just kind of hung on in thesecond.”
Johnny Hemsley scored 14 points and Bland added 13 for Miami, which had athree-game winning streak snapped.
The Orangemen dominated the first half, jumping out to a 11-1 lead andopening up a 17-point lead with a little less than four minutes to play in thefirst half. Thomas’ presence in the middle intimidated the Hurricanes, who madejust four of their first 24 shots.
Miami, which shot a season-low 31 percent from the field, was forced intomany long-range jumpers and several quick shots.
“We anticipated they would be blocking shots and we were not taking theball up as strong as we should have in the first half,” Miami coach LeonardHamilton said. “That was disappointing.”
Hemsley said, “Thomas is one of the best shot-blockers in the league, sowhen you get in there you have to take that into consideration.”
Trailing 36-21 at halftime, Miami used a 13-2 spurt early in the second halfto trim Syracuse’s lead to 38-34.
Hart, though, hit a momentum-stopping 3-pointer to start a run that putSyracuse in charge again. Hart added an alley-oop pass to Brown to give theOrangemen their biggest lead of the second half at 57-41.
“We’ve got three seniors who know how high the stakes are every night,”Hart said. “We know what it takes to win.”
Syracuse shot 61 percent in the first half and finished at 47 percentshooting for the game, their first of three straight away from home.
“This team has played on the road,” Boeheim said. “They went 7-2 in theleague on the road last year and we didn’t change a guy from our first seven.There’s no reason we shouldn’t play well on the road.”
