It took only two minutes for Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim to become frustrated with Darryl Watkins.

Granted, Watkins has developed more of a post game. But the center missing an easy turnaround and an open jumper on the block made Boeheim’s head steam.

So he put in Matt Gorman for Watkins. A minute later, Boeheim substituted Paul Harris for Eric Devendorf and Mike Jones for Demetris Nichols after each missed pull-up jumpers.

Immediately Jones’ jump shot hit off the backboard. So Nichols went right back in. At the 14:05 mark, Boeheim removed Terrence Roberts for taking a poor shot.

Six minutes into the game, Boeheim played nine players but found the same problems. But thanks to 24 points off turnovers and a defense that held St. Francis (N.Y) to 32.3 percent shooting, No. 20 Syracuse carried an 83-51 victory over the Terriers in the first round of the Black Coaches Association Invitational in front of 18,280 at the Carrier Dome.

The Orange will play at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Carrier Dome against Pennsylvania, who was a 69-66 loser against Texas El-Paso.

It’s unknown whether Roberts, who left the game with 15:20 remaining in the second half due to a knee injury, will play Saturday.

‘He got bumped on his knee; it’s been sore but we will see how it is tomorrow,’ Boeheim said.

Roberts returned to sit on the bench at the 11:50 mark with an ice bag on his right knee. He even gave Gorman a standing ovation when he nailed a 3-pointer at the 10:57 mark to increase SU’s lead to 57-30.

‘Our offensive focus is still not good,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’re not executing offensively as well as we need to. It’s going to take a while to get in sync with what we’re trying to do.’

Roberts and Harris grabbed 13 and 11 rebounds, respectively. Aside from their effort, though, SU failed to box out the Terriers in the post. Nonetheless, five players struck double figures. Nichols scored 15 points while Devendorf (13), Watkins (11), Rautins (11) and Harris (10) followed suit.

But even with the turnaround, Boeheim acknowledges he’s still working to find that right combination to lead the Orange offense.

SU failed to score a basket from 15:58 to the 11:16 mark in the first half due to poor distribution and shooting. Then the Orange broke the spell when Wright made a steal and dished the ball to Watkins for an easy layup.

On the ensuing play, Roberts swatted a bounce pass from St. Francis guard Kayode Ayeni. Roberts immediately passed the ball crosscourt to Wright, who then found Nichols for the alley-oop.

‘We’re a very good team,’ said Wright, who also dished out nine assists and had only three turnovers. ‘We wanted to come out and overpower this team. We’re a very good team. We know that but we wanted to come out and impose our will on these teams.’

Syracuse scored nine points in two minutes after SU’s timeout that involved Boeheim showing his frustration over his team’s poor play. It was a definite spark-plug, in that it deviated from SU’s earlier poor offense. But it also showed a telling sign that the only way SU could score was by forcing turnovers rather than putting up quality shots and running an offense.

‘It was jitters and everyone playing together for the first time,’ Devendorf said. ‘We’re going to be alright, though. We had to play aggressive defensively. That’s what we started to do.’

Syracuse opened the second half with a 6-0 run in the first 2:20 of action and carried the momentum until the final buzzer. Devendorf hit a jump shot and Watkins made a layup in the first 45 seconds. After Roberts grabbed a rebound off a St. Francis missed field goal, Devendorf drove the court and missed a floater. But Watkins tipped the ball in. Then Nichols grabbed a steal for an easy basket.

SU played strikingly different in the second half, as it shot 63.3 percent from the field. But even with the changed momentum, the Orange knows it has its work cut out.

And with games on Saturday and Sunday, SU will continue to fine-tune.

‘He’s definitely trying to get the right combination,’ Watkins said of Boeheim. ‘Everybody is going in and out because he wants to see who meshes with who and which players play well together.’

Published on November 10, 2006 at 12:00 pm