BOSTON – After an average win against an average tournament team, the Syracuse men’s basketball team said all the right things.

Manhattan was a tough team. Manhattan battled. Manhattan played with heart.

‘They were a scrappy little team,’ SU freshman Carmelo Anthony said.

But masked in Anthony’s small compliment was big meaning.

During No. 3-seeded Syracuse’s 76-65 win over No. 14 Manhattan on Friday afternoon in front of 18,141 at the Fleet Center, the Jaspers weren’t scrappy enough. And as Anthony said, they were far too little.

With the win, Syracuse advances to a second-round meeting with Oklahoma State on Sunday afternoon at 2:40.

Syracuse used its size advantage against Manhattan, shooting 58 percent from the field, blocking nine shots and outrebounding the Jaspers, 39-28. While the Orangemen grabbed an offensive rebound every other shot, Manhattan earned a second chance one of every four opportunities.

‘We got overwhelmed a little bit,’ Jaspers coach Bobby Gonzalez said. ‘We got out-classed a little bit by Syracuse today. They’re just a little too big for us on the boards.’

In the first half, Syracuse struggled to take advantage of its height-deprived opponents. Anthony, whose bullish figure gave him a physical edge, was content to test his jump shot, leading to 3-of-8 first-half shooting.

Although SU head coach Jim Boeheim half-joked, half-attempted to relieve the pressure on his star freshman by blaming Anthony’s interior ineffectiveness on ‘bad coaching,’ Anthony said he was just checking his range.

‘I was trying to see where my (jump shot) was at outside,’ Anthony said. ‘Now I know I have to go inside and then out.’

Seldom-used guard Josh Pace used his size to help the Orangemen to a 35-31 halftime lead. Pace, who averages 3.5 points, nearly doubled that number in the first half. On three occasions Pace, who finished with eight points, took the ball outside, bumped his defender below the free-throw line and buried unobstructed jump shots.

‘I though Josh Pace was terrific in the first half’ Boeheim said. ‘When he gets (inside), he’s a finisher. It’s been a tough two years for him, not being able to play much. He’s better than we hoped he’d be at this stage of the year.’

As the Orangemen’s inside presence grew, so did their lead. Anthony scored 10 of his team-high 17 in the second half, using strong interior moves. Point guard Billy Edelin also backed into the paint, making one move and spinning his way to 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

‘A guy like Billy Edelin comes off the bench, and he’s a 6-foot-4 point guard,’ Gonzalez said. ‘We have no matchup for him. We are quick little guys. He’s just a tough matchup.’

With 6:57 left, Manhattan trimmed SU’s lead to 61-56 before Anthony responded, scoring six of SU’s next eight points.

‘The whole team was telling me to go inside, not only coach,’ Anthony said. ‘In the second half, I took advantage of the situation.’

Jared Johnson led the Jaspers with 22 points, while star guard Luis Flores pitched in 20.

Despite three Manhattan second-half runs – keyed by Johnson and Flores – that cut SU’s lead to five points or less, senior Kueth Duany said the Orangemen never felt they could lose the game.

No matter how quickly Syracuse’s lead shrunk, its height advantage remained.

‘We had a size advantage at every position,’ Duany said. ‘That’s something you just have to take advantage of.’

Published on March 21, 2003 at 12:00 pm