Hakim Warrick flashed a smile. With a little more than five minutes to go in the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s game against St. John’s, the SU senior went to the free-throw line with a chance to establish a new career-high in points.

Not only did Warrick nail the attempt, he knocked out the Red Storm, too, leading SU over St. John’s, 83-69, before 25,579 at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday night.

Warrick scored a career-high 35 points – including 15-of-19 shooting from the free-throw line – as Syracuse never trailed.

‘This was Hak’s game,’ said SU head coach Jim Boeheim. ‘We need him to come up big for us to be successful.’

When Warrick struggled and scored a combined 24 points in back-to-back losses to Boston College and Pittsburgh, Syracuse struggled, too. He totaled just seven rebounds in the two losses and SU needed him to assert himself.

That’s exactly what Warrick did when No. 15 Syracuse needed him the most on Wednesday night, especially when Gerry McNamara left the game with 12:47 remaining due to a left ankle injury.

‘We needed it,’ Warrick said. ‘Especially the way we won big.’

Syracuse (23-5, 10-4 Big East) led, 43-30, at halftime, but a furious 8-0 Red Storm run to begin the half trimmed that lead to five.

Warrick then took over.

Boeheim called a timeout and the Orange quickly regrouped by feeding Warrick. He drew a foul and nailed two free throws, starting a stretch where Warrick scored 14 of 17 SU points in nearly six minutes.

The Red Storm (9-15, 3-11) never drew closer than five again.

Warrick completed two three-point plays during that dominating stretch and connected a rebound slam off a Gerry McNamara miss for another two. The clincher, though, came on a monstrous dunk with 12:47 remaining that gave Syracuse a 58-46 lead, and left the Carrier Dome crowd on its feet.

‘(Hakim) had a great night,’ Syracuse sophomore forward Terrence Roberts said. ‘He dominated and did what he had to do.’

Daryll Hill led the Red Storm with a career-high 33 points, including 15 in a first half in which he shot 3 of 6 from 3-point range.

Nine different players scored for SU, much like the success it had in spreading the ball in a Jan. 5 win over St. John’s. In the 79-65 win, 10 players scored for Syracuse.

But even with the balance, the Orange still relied on Warrick, and his knack for drawing fouls.

Boston College and Pittsburgh played Warrick physical, but he only hit 9 of 21 attempts.

‘He has trouble with the more physical teams,’ Boeheim said.

But like Warrick did against a smaller Villanova lineup when he scored a then-career high 32 points, Warrick continually went to the basket Wednesday and drew call after call. He also picked up 10 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the year.

Warrick attempted a season-high 19 free throws, his highest total since he hit 18 of 22 against Rhode Island last season.

‘It was big in Philly,’ Warrick said of scoring a career-high 32 points near in his hometown. ‘But coming off the last two games and how tough it was, this was definitely bigger.’

The strangest moment for Warrick came with 11:09 to go and McNamara out with the injury. Officials gave St. John’s coach Norm Roberts a technical call for arguing a disputed call. Without McNamara on the floor, Boeheim went to Warrick to shoot the free throws.

‘Once I saw Gerry was down and I was on the court,’ Warrick said, ‘I was thinking, ‘I was shooting pretty good, (coach Boeheim) might send me out there.”

Boeheim did just that and Warrick hit both. A sweet ending to a career-high night.

Published on February 23, 2005 at 12:00 pm