PITTSBURGH – It was as exhilarating as it was nauseating, captivating as it was disgusting. The Syracuse men’s basketball team’s 49-46 overtime victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon was a Picasso covered in mud.

Syracuse’s most important win of the year didn’t come with attractive wrapping, but that didn’t stop the Orangemen from enjoying their most meaningful work in front of 12,624 at the Petersen Events Center, where Pitt had won 34 straight games.

‘Playing pretty is not a factor,’ junior Josh Pace said. ‘We don’t care if it’s 21-20, as long as we’re the ones with 21. They bullied us at home. We wanted to play like they played.’

That meant winning ugly. During a 66-45 win on Jan. 24 in the Carrier Dome, Pittsburgh battered the Orangemen, outrebounding them by 14 and holding SU to its lowest number of points in a Big East game during Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim’s tenure.

Without overtime, the Orangemen would have set a new record yesterday. But they held Pittsburgh to its lowest point total this season. SU shot 35 percent and harried Pittsburgh into 31 percent shooting.

‘The way we battled defensively was key,’ Boeheim said. ‘The game in Syracuse, they outphysicaled, us, they banged us and took advantage of us. That’s not going to happen very often. We wanted to be physical, limit the number of possessions on offense and force them to make foul shots.’

The Orangemen worked the shot clock under 20 before beginning to move toward the basket. The strategy resulted in a number of errant alley-oop attempts, two first-half shot clock violations, and left the Orangemen relying on Hakim Warrick and Gerry McNamara to make one-on-one moves and force jump shots. Warrick led SU with 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting. McNamara, meanwhile, struggled to nine points, hitting only 1 of 9.

But the strategy seemed to unsettle the Panthers, who had taken a 15-7 lead with 9:47 left in the first half on an assortment of surgical bounce passes and lay-ups. Syracuse’s defensive intensity increased, and rather than risk turning the ball over inside, Pittsburgh began settling for jump shots. Pittsburgh guards Julius Page and Carl Krauser struggled to hit shots, combining to make 6 of 22 attempts. Krauser and freshman Chris Taft led the Panthers with nine points each.

‘It was the best we’ve played on defense all year,’ McNamara said. ‘We didn’t give them anything easy. We cut down on easy lay-ups and tried to make them hit their foul shots.’

With Syracuse (19-6, 9-5 Big East) leading 40-38, a pair of questionable calls helped force the game into overtime. McNamara was bumped by Krauser – who picked up his fifth foul before racing down the court, and yanking his shirt over his head – and knocked down a pair of free throws.

On the ensuing possession, Page hit his only 3-pointer of the game. After a Syracuse miss, center Craig Forth fouled out on another questionable call trying to knock away a pass to Pittsburgh forward Chevon Troutman. Forth stood in disbelief before jogging to the bench with three seconds left.

Troutman, meanwhile, strode to the foul line, made his first free throw and had an opportunity to win the game. His second circled around the rim and bounced out.

‘The referees were doing the best they could,’ Warrick said. ‘Any game with Pittsburgh is going to be hard on them because they like to be so physical.’

Pace led off Syracuse’s overtime efforts, backing down Pittsburgh’s defense, twisting and lofting in a floater. After a pair of free throws from Jaron Brown, McNamara buried a 3-pointer, his only basket of the game.

On the next two possessions, Pittsburgh (25-3, 11-3) rammed the ball to Taft under the basket, but each time, SU fouled Taft, forcing him to shoot free throws rather than lay-ups. Taft made 1 of 2 each time, and after a pair of McNamara free throws, Pittsburgh’s final 3-point attempt by Mark McCarroll clanked off the rim.

After the game, Warrick whirled like a discus-thrower, hurling the ball high in the air, landing it rows behind the Pittsburgh basket. Freshman Terrence Roberts stormed back to the Syracuse bench, stomping the ground and shouting in exuberance.

‘People are saying we don’t have heart,’ Pace said. ‘Obviously we’ve still got something.’

With the win, Syracuse ends any speculation about missing the NCAA Tournament and maintains a chance for a bye in the Big East Tournament by moving into a tie for fourth place with Seton Hall.

‘We don’t think about that,’ Roberts said. ‘It was a big win for other reasons. We beat a team that’s ranked No. 3 in the country, that had a 40-game winning streak and that beat us bad at home.’

Published on February 29, 2004 at 12:00 pm