The last few minutes were unnecessarily exciting.

Syracuse held as much as a 19-point lead against Cincinnati and planned on coasting to its fourth straight Big East win.

SU got the win, no doubt. But it was all contingent on Eric Devendorf’s two free throws with 12.6 seconds left to have SU come out with a 77-76 victory on Wednesday in front of 22,248 fans at the Carrier Dome. Cincinnati’s Deonta Vaughn missed the potential game-winning 3-pointer, allowing Syracuse (15-5, 4-1 Big East) to save face.

But it brings back a problem that Syracuse suffered at the beginning of the season – playing a complete game. SU started slowly in three straight games against Northeastern, Charlotte and Cansius before turning it around in the second half.

Against Drexel on Dec. 19, SU seemed to secure the victory only to squander it in the final minutes. That almost happened Wednesday night, as the second half didn’t mirror the first half.

Syracuse forward Terrence Roberts ended with 17 points and 10 rebounds, but scored only a free throw in the second half. SU shot 60.7 percent in the first half but slipped drastically to 38.1 percent in the second half. Demetris Nichols provided offensive consistency with 22 points but SU head coach Jim Boeheim thought he played poor defense and missed numerous rebounds.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s 27.5 percent first-half shooting – a mark which Boeheim thinks doesn’t reflect his team’s defense – improved to 45.9 percent. The Bearcats were backed with five players who scored in double figures. Marcus Sikes, Deonta Vaughn, Marvin Gentry, John Williamson and Cedric McGowan scored 24, 13, 11, 11 and 10 points, respectively.

‘The only reason we won the game at all is we shot the ball pretty well,’ Boeheim said. ‘We were on the road and played well defensively against Marquette and Rutgers. We also played very well defensively against Villanova. Tonight Cincinnati scored 34 points against Rutgers. They scored 76 here. Defensively, it was a horrendous game for us.’

The poor defense allowed Cincinnati to edge back to close SU’s lead to 71-70 with 3:51 left. Then carelessness ensued.

After Devendorf answered with two free throws, McGowan tried to convert a put-back off a Jamual Warren miss. For example, SU forward Darryl Watkins grabbed one of his 10 rebounds off a failed McGowan putback. But Watkins was called for traveling after falling to the ground.

On the next play, Nichols went out-of-bounds after trying to push the ball up the floor. Then, McGowan exploited SU’s poor interior defense, weaving through Watkins and Roberts for a left-handed lay-up to reduce SU’s lead to 73-72 with 2:32 left. A Sikes 3-pointer retook the lead at 75-73.

SU guard Josh Wright continued the carelessness when he was called for an offensive foul on the other end. Devendorf fouled Gentry shortly afterward as he hit one of his two free-throws for a 76-73 lead.

Despite the poor defense and sloppy play, both Nichols and Devendorf hit a pair of free-throws to secure the victory.

‘I don’t think we expected them to keep on going,’ Nichols said. ‘I think that’s something we have to learn. We learned our lesson. We almost lost. If we would’ve lost, it would’ve been a different story.’

It would’ve spoiled SU’s three-game losing streak but the game still leaves a blotch given the Orange was starting to play its best basketball of the season. Devendorf, who scored 17 points, wants his team to get to a point where it is ready to play with full intensity the whole game.

He knows SU is not there yet, but he doesn’t know when or if it will come.

‘We have to learn to put teams away and cut their throats,’ Devendorf said. ‘I couldn’t tell you when that will happen. I want to be at that point but it’s tough, man. The Big East is a big conference.’

Boeheim, on the other hand, wants his team to forget about it. SU was lucky enough it won, Boeheim thought. But there aren’t easy games and SU needs to forget about this one, Boeheim reasoned.

‘In this league you’re going to have games like this,’ Boeheim said. ‘We have to find a way to win in a game like this. In two weeks nobody will remember anything. I won’t remember it tomorrow morning.’

Published on January 17, 2007 at 12:00 pm