MIAMI – If you could pitch a perfect game in basketball, Hakim Warrick entered the bottom of the ninth with just that. Then he got the first two out, wound up and fired.

But throwing his last pitch, Warrick let a little nubber leak through the infield, and the 6-foot-8 junior yelped in discontent.

Just one shot – his last shot – rimmed in and out. It was an insignificant free throw with 11:30 left and SU up 17. But it broke up Warrick’s perfect game in SU’s 91-74 win Saturday over Miami.

‘It was a…’ a visibly bothered Warrick said before trialing off. ‘I just didn’t concentrate on that one. It came in and out, so that’s the way it goes sometimes.’

Warrick let out a booming scream following the miss, echoing throughout the desolate Convocation Center, which sounded more like a golf course than a basketball arena.

So as it turned out, he didn’t make every basket. But 11-for-11 shooting and 5 for 6 from the foul line for 27 points while grabbing seven rebounds? He’ll take it.

‘I didn’t do anything different,’ Warrick said. ‘Same routine. Maybe it was the sun or something, getting out of that snow and cold weather.’

Warrick’s 11 buckets came mostly on his trademark fake-right-fade-left move that’s as predictable as it is unstoppable.

Warrick made some things easier on himself. He closed out the half with three fast-break dunks, one mimicking Stretch Armstrong, as Warrick, flying from 10 feet out, extended his right arm an extra three inches seemingly before slamming home a jaw-dropping, tongue-rolling drooler.

‘You can’t describe anything like that,’ guard Gerry McNamara said. ‘You just gotta see it.’

Said center Craig Forth: ‘Obviously. That dunk he had in the first half was ridiculous. He was just feeling it, really feeling it.’

In the second half, Warrick grew a bit complacent, perhaps an effort to keep his perfect game intact.

Still, as Warrick left the game with five minutes left, he received a standing ovation on an opponent’s floor.

The session came as hope of sorts for Syracuse, especially with offensive questions surrounded a team that averaged 82.5 points over its first 14 games. The 17-point win ranks behind most this season in terms of importance. But don’t discount Warrick’s effort because it came against Miami.

The Hurricanes lost in double overtime to then-undefeated Pittsbugh, 84-80, at the Convocation Center. Saturday marked the second-most lopsided loss Miami suffered all year.

Warrick sparked that. His halftime line – 9-for-9 shooting, 21 points and five rebounds – read better than most of his recent final stats. Miami frontman Will Frisby said Warrick was ‘unstoppable.’

Good news for Orangemen fans.

Sure, Warrick started the year strong, carrying SU with slightly more consistency than the stop-and-pop McNamara.

But then came the lull, the offensively inept Pittsburgh game, in which SU set eye-popping offensive lows not seen since the Jim Boeheim playing days. A 45-point team collapse. A 21-point loss. A 6-for-15 shooting night from Warrick – unacceptable numbers for an All-Big East first team selection in Syracuse’s biggest game of the year. With that game came the collapse of a powerhouse offense.

Saturday may have marked its return. Right now, it’s too early to tell. Tonight’s game against Notre Dame may provide a more reliable barometer. But Syracuse has shown it can drift in and out of a shooting touch in a matter of hours.

But as long as Warrick plays like he did Saturday, the offensive crisis will be less imminent.

‘I got some easy baskets early on,’ Warrick said, ‘and that got me going. I just wanted to keep up and be aggressive. Things were just falling for me.’

Everything but one measly free throw. But hey, he’ll take it.

Scott Lieber is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns appear regularly. E-mail him at smlieber@syr.edu.

Published on September 8, 2004 at 12:00 pm