Jim Boeheim wishes that a chewing out could immediately change the momentum.

But that does not happen in reality, the Syracuse head coach reasoned.

‘Talk is very overrated,’ Boeheim said. ‘Talk only works in dreams, sometimes in movies.’

Talk certainly didn’t happen Wednesday against Northeastern. Boeheim warned his players about leaving any team open on the perimeter.

But No. 18 Syracuse didn’t follow suit. SU guard Eric Devendorf and forward Demetris Nichols acknowledged a careless attitude permeated within the Orange squad.

Soon enough, SU faced a 15-point deficit with 13:25 left in the first half. Boeheim called timeout, but the typical movie script doesn’t follow.

Boeheim insists he didn’t say anything to ignite his team. Just that only his team finally decided to play defense. That new mindset eventually resulted in Syracuse’s 81-58 win at the Carrier Dome in front of 19,007.

‘We were close to them but we didn’t stop the shot,’ Boeheim said. ‘They made it. That’s what’s going to happen when you play guys who can really shoot the ball. They shoot the ball as open as anybody we’re going to play. So that’s what happens when you leave people open.’

Northeastern (0-1) shot 43.8 percent in the first half but dropped to 29.6 percent in the second.

But Syracuse (4-0) also shot the ball well at 50.9 percent, including 47.6 percent from 3-point range. Devendorf led SU with 19 points while Paul Harris (16), Nichols (15) and Andy Rautins (13) also posted double figures. Terrence Roberts scored only four points but made up for it in the paint, grabbing seven of his 13 rebounds on defense.

Nonetheless, Syracuse played carelessly.

Northeastern stormed to a 14-0 run early in the half. Boeheim tried to stop it when he called timeout after Northeastern scored five straight points.

He shuffled his lineup by putting in Matt Gorman, Harris and Rautins to play alongside Nichols and Wright. But that did little to stop the Huskies’ momentum. Bennet Davis posted on the block and found Adrian Martinez in the corner wide open for a 3-pointer.

Roberts and Devendorf surrounded Martinez a play later but the strategy left Davis open for a jumper. The Huskies created a 22-7 cushion with 13:22 left, which caused Boeheim to call another timeout.

This time, though, Syracuse responded well after the timeout.

‘We didn’t have to say much,’ Devendorf said. ‘We just got ourselves involved with the play.’

Rautins quickly nailed a 3-pointer after coming out of the huddle. After a Northeastern missed field goal, Gorman grabbed the board and dished the ball to Devendorf, who quickly found Harris inside. Devendorf and Harris connected again on the next possession for an easy lay-up. A Rautins lay-up a play later capped a 6-0 run by the 11:34 mark.

‘We needed to talk during screens,’ Nichols said. ‘We needed to spread out and help each other out.’

Nearly five minutes later Nichols’ 3-pointer tied the game, 27-27. With 2:38 remaining, SU broke the lead. Devendorf dove to steal the ball from Huskies’ guard Bobby Kelly. Devendorf fell but Harris picked up the ball and drove in for the dunk for the 34-33 lead. It was SU’s first lead of the game since Wright hit a 3-pointer at the 19:34 mark for a 3-0 lead.

A Devendorf drive, a Devendorf 3-pointer and a Mike Jones dunk brought Syracuse’s lead to 41-33 at halftime.

Syracuse continued its run when it went back on the court. Wright opened with a 3-pointer and Nichols followed suit with a jumper. Syracuse then pulled a 15-3 run from 15:49 to the 11:13 mark, which put the game away with a 61-46 lead. Harris’ one-handed slam to ignite the Carrier Dome crowd brought closing satisfaction to a run well done.

‘That’s the bench,’ Harris said. ‘The starters at that time wasn’t getting it done. It shows how deep our team is.’

Published on November 15, 2006 at 12:00 pm