Warrick's 35 Leads SU Past St. John's, 83-69 - Syracuse University Athletics

Wednesday, February 23

Syracuse, NY

7:00 p.m. (Time Warner)

Syracuse University

St. John's

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Warrick poured in a career-high 35 as SU beat St. John's.

2/23/2005 10:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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SYRACUSE, NY -- National Player of the Year candidate Hakim Warrick tallied a career-best 35 points and added 10 rebounds to lead #15/15 Syracuse (23-5, 10-4) past St. John's (9-15, 3-11), 83-69, in front of 25,579 at the Carrier Dome. The victory was the 699th of Coach Jim Boeheim's tenure at Syracuse, leaving him one win shy of joining an exclusive group of 17 Division I coaches who have accumulated 700 career wins.

The SU victory, in front of the fifth-largest crowd in college basketball this season, ended a modest two-game losing streak for the Orange. Syracuse found Warrick frequently around the basket and in the open court and the senior forward responded by hitting 10-of-15 from the field and 15-of-19 from the free throw line. He had support from classmate Josh Pace who contributed 12 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Warrick surpassed Preston Shumpert (1,907 points) for sixth on the SU career scoring list and improved his total to 1,922 points.

Sophomore Terrence Roberts made his first career start and contributed nine points, four boards and three assists in 24 minutes of action. Freshman Josh Wright saw his first action since January 8, playing a career-high 20 minutes, and tallying four assists and two steals.

Syracuse hit its first eight shots to take a 20-10 lead. The Orange would keep a double-digit advantage the remainder of the first stanza, a margin that grew as large as 18 points, 38-20, with 2:25 to play. St. John's used three three-pointers in the final two and half minutes of the period, and the Orange had a 13-point halftime lead, 43-30.

Warrick scored 14 points in the first half to help Syracuse build its double-digit lead, and then sparked another Orange rally in the second half when St. John's continued to use the three to narrow the Orange's halftime advantage to five, two minutes into the second half.

St. John's scored the first eight points of the second half before Warrick scored 12 of the next 15 points for the Orange, to again build a double-digit lead, 58-46, with 13:01 remaining the contest. The Orange extended its lead to as much as 22 on two occasions, before St. John's ended the game on a 10-2 run during the final four minutes.

The Johnnies got a remarkable offensive performance from guard Daryll Hill, who nailed seven three-pointers in a 33-point outburst. Eugene Lawrence added 12 points, while Cedric Jackson had 10 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

The triumph was Syracuse's 37th straight against New York schools. The streak dates back to the 1999-2000 season.

Syracuse closes out the home portion of its regular-season schedule on Saturday when it hosts Providence at 12:00 p.m. in the Dome.