The crowd outside the Carrier Dome was even larger than usual last night. Twenty, maybe even thirty Syracuse fans stood anxiously outside the players’ exit.

They had watched every other Syracuse player leave, so the next one out had to be him.

Ben Dyer, 11, took off his sweatshirt and showed off his No. 3 Syracuse jersey. Sure, Preston Shumpert had already autographed it five times, but tonight was a little different.

This was the last time the local sports hero would walk out and greet his autograph seekers. The crowd chattered about how Shumpert, a senior, would never play again at the Carrier Dome. Everyone talked about how Shumpert, playing in the dubious NIT during his senior year, could have thrown in the towel so easily.

But this large contingent stood outside because Shumpert didn’t give up. Monday night, Shumpert just gave.

On the court, the senior scored 36 points, more than half his team’s total, and screamed and pranced in a display of emotion he had never before dared.

Off the court, Shumpert gave autographs to each fan waiting for him, like he does after each Syracuse game, be it a win or a loss. He posed for five pictures and even dished out a little advice.

When Dyer asked Shumpert for the star’s winter hat, Shumpert instead gave Dyer a scientific lecture.

“In Syracuse, you have to stay warm,” Shumpert told Dyer and his friend. “Plus, if I give you guys my hat, it will mess up my equilibrium. Your balance gets messed up because of your ears getting cold. Hey, you guys better put your hats on.”

Without hesitation, the two youngsters slipped on their hoods, continuing a night in which everyone listened to Shumpert’s advice.

“This was going to be his last home game,” teammate Hakim Warrick said. “He played his heart out. You see your leader screaming, shouting and giving you advice, and it makes you want to play for him. We played for Preston.”

And for a career-high 44 minutes, Shumpert played for his teammates, too. He made 12 of 19 shots, including 5 of 7 from three-point range, and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

He overpowered smaller defenders down low and drew enough fouls to earn 13 of Syracuse’s 15 free-throw attempts. Other times, Butler attempted to slow Shumpert with Joel Cornette, a defensive specialist with four-inch and 30-pound advantages. With a significant speed advantage, the Syracuse small forward ran through screens to find open looks on the perimeter.

Two minutes into overtime, Shumpert eluded Cornette by fading out to the right corner to swish a catch-and-shoot three-pointer, displaying the kind of athletic prowess everyone knew Shumpert had.

What was more surprising and probably more impressive was that Shumpert then displayed the type of unmitigated emotion not even his teammates had witnessed before. After his overtime triple, Shumpert ran down the court with his arms stretched wide and his mouth agape. Then Butler called timeout, and Shumpert ran to the center of the court and stomped up and down while pumping his fists.

“I have never seen him with that kind of emotion,” center Craig Forth said. “He was off the wall tonight. He has had two great games in a row.”

If you ask Shumpert or head coach Jim Boeheim, each will tell you that Shumpert has scored 64 points in two NIT games because he is finally healthy.

Shumpert reaggravated a scratched cornea halfway through the year in a game at Georgetown. In the seven games that followed, he lost the one thing nobody thought he could — his shot.

“His whole game turned when the eye injury happened,” Boeheim said. “He got down. He couldn’t make shots. When he got back, he had lost a little bit of confidence. He has his confidence back, and that’s the difference.”

“I don’t want to make excuses,” Shumpert said, “but in some ways the eye injury is like a car accident. Something happens that you can’t do nothing about.”

Now, back and healthy, maybe Shumpert is making up for lost time, doing everything he can to avoid the end of his college career.

Yesterday, Shumpert, quiet by nature, proved that he is even willing to be the vocal leader he never was before. As he said, he “doesn’t want it all to end.”

Not just yet.

“I decided, whatever is keeping me back, it is not going to hold me anymore,” Shumpert said. “I want to win this thing. I am not ready for all of this to be over. It is hard enough that I won’t play at the Dome anymore.”

It’s tough for those 30 fans, too. No more Shumpert autographs. But he left them with a game filled with talent and passion.

Hopefully, that will be the signature they remember him by.

Eli Saslow is an Assistant Sports Editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at eesaslow@syr.edu.

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Published on March 18, 2002 at 12:00 pm