| | SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The unbeaten run is over for Syracuse, and
now the fourth-ranked Orangemen have to regroup with the toughest
part of their schedule ahead.
Syracuse was beaten 69-67 Monday night by Big East rival Seton
Hall, ending its 19-game winning streak. Darius Lane's long
3-pointer in the final minute, his sixth 3 of the game, provided a
stirring halt to the Orangemen's impressive streak.
"Nobody ever wants to lose, and we certainly didn't," said
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. "But we took it farther than anyone
would have imagined at the beginning of the year. Now, we have to
bounce back."
The defeat left Syracuse (19-1, 9-1 Big East) tied with last
year's Connecticut team for the longest winning streak by a
conference team at the start of a season. The Orangemen were the
last remaining unbeaten team in Division I until the Pirates
subdued them with a barrage of long-range shots.
Seton Hall (16-4, 8-2), led by point guard Shaheen Holloway,
split open the tough Syracuse 2-3 zone with some good penetration
inside, then kicked the ball out to its sharpshooters. The Pirates
hit a dozen 3s, including the game-winner by Lang from well behind
the line with 39 seconds left.
"We fought, we battled, we knew Syracuse was a tough team,"
said Holloway, who had 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
"We wanted to come in and try to make a statement, and I think we
did that. It makes it that much sweeter because they were
undefeated."
The Pirates are a very good team -- they've won 13 of their last
15 games and three in a row in the Carrier Dome -- and on Monday
night played about as well as they can. They shot 48.1 percent from
the field, the best percentage against Syracuse this season, and
held the Orangemen to 37.3-percent shooting, including a meager two
of 11 from 3-point range.
Yet Syracuse, despite getting only seven points from starters
Damone Brown, Ryan Blackwell and Tony Bland on 1-for-15 shooting,
lost by only a basket, thanks to its depth. The bench, led by
Preston Shumpert with 12 points, and DeShaun Williams with 11,
contributed 33.
The loss did not have a negative impact on the players.
"Nobody's got their heads down," said point guard Jason Hart,
who scored 14 points but did not have an assist. "We're
disappointed that we lost. You've got to come back harder, and
we're going to see what we're made of right now."
Syracuse's futility was magnified in the final five minutes as
the Orangemen were in the midst of rallying from a nine-point
deficit. Thomas attempted a soft layup with 3:15 to go instead of
slamming home a powerful dunk that would have sent the crowd of
23,735 into a furious frenzy. The ball rolled around the rim and
out as the Carrier Dome faithful moaned in unison.
"Sometimes the ball just doesn't go in the basket," said
center Etan Thomas, who scored nine of his 13 points on free throws
while taking only eight shots from the field. "The effort was
there."
Syracuse had teetered on the brink of defeat since routing
defending national champion Connecticut 88-74 two weeks ago. The
Orangemen barely beat St. John's and struggled to get by Boston
College.
Syracuse is at Louisville on Thursday before returning home to
play UCLA on Sunday. Games at St. John's, Notre Dame and
Connecticut also loom.
The Orangemen know they can't let the defeat linger if the
season is to end up being something special.
"It wasn't crushing, we're going to lose games," said Brown,
who was injured in the second half Monday night and scored only
five points in his 15 minutes of play. "You can't hold your head
down.
"We've got a lot more games, and there's a lot more chances for
us to win. We can't let this loss take us down. It's not going to
snowball." | |
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Seton halt: Hall hands Syracuse first loss of season
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