Jan. 10, 2005
By TOM COYNE
AP Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Gerry McNamara had 22 points to lead No. 7 Syracuse to a 70-61 victory over Notre Dame on Monday night, making Jim Boeheim the first coach with 300 Big East wins.
The Irish led 57-51 when Josh Pace scored six points in a 14-0 run by Syracuse, which repeatedly scored inside. Pace started it with a 10-foot jumper and Hakim Warrick, who was sitting with four fouls when the run began, added four of his 12 points during the spurt, including a dunk on an alley-oop pass from Billy Edelin.
Notre Dame (10-3, 2-1) was 0-for-7 from the field during the run with one turnover.
It was the ninth straight win for the Orange (16-1, 3-0) in their first game this season outside the state of New York. It was the fourth straight win at Notre Dame for Syracuse.
The loss ended Notre Dame’s winning streak at six games and prevented the Irish from going 3-0 in the league for the first time.
Boeheim has a 300-161 record in his 26th season in the conference. John Thompson, who coached at Georgetown for 20 seasons, is second on the career list with 231 wins. Jim Calhoun, in his 19th season at Connecticut, is second among active coaches with 221.
The Irish trailed 38-34 at halftime and they opened the second half with an 8-0 run and twice led by eight points. They went ahead 57-51 when Chris Quinn, who had 13 points, hit a 3-pointer. But that’s when the Orange took control by making seven straight baskets as the Irish simply couldn’t stop them inside.
Warrick, who had four straight double-doubles against the Irish, struggled on Monday, going just 2-of-10 from the free throw line and finished with five rebounds. The Orange were just 10-of-24 from the free throw line, a season-low 27 percent.
The Orange shot 50 percent from the field, though, including 56.5 percent in the second half.
Torin Francis had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Irish, while Colin Falls had 14 points. Chris Thomas, who broke Pat Garrity’s school record with his 112th career start, was held to five points on 1-of-14 shooting, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range.
The Irish, who lost to Syracuse for the sixth time in seven tries, were 9-of-30 from 3-point range, including 3-of-15 in the second half.