Syracuse Rolls To Round Two

The Syracuse Orangemen became increasingly antsy as they waited for their turn to take the court in the NCAA Midwest Regional.

"We were anxious. We wanted to get out there and play and as we sat in the locker room, we got more butterflies," point guard Jason Hart said. "But that's college basketball."

After watching Kentucky survive in a double-overtime thriller against St. Bonaventure, the Orangemen didn't provide much drama in a 79-65 victory over 13th-seeded Samford on Thursday.

Etan Thomas and Ryan Blackwell controlled the inside and Preston Shumpert and Hart handled things on the perimeter as the fourth-seeded Orangemen rolled into Saturday's second round against Kentucky. The fifth-seeded Wildcats held off St. Bonaventure 85-80 in marathon that delayed the second game by 30 minutes.

That was hard to tell because Thomas scored all the points as the Orangemen (25-5) took a 7-3 lead at the outset. They didn't look like a team that had lost five of its last 10 games after a 19-0 start.

"I think we wanted to come out with more intensity," said Thomas, who had 16 points despite sitting out much of the second half after picking up three quick fouls. "That was one of our goals. We wanted to set the tone from the beginning and that's what we did."

Samford coach Jimmy Tillette said of Thomas, "I thought he was quite a force a both ends of the floor, especially defensively."

Shumpert hit half of his six 3-point attempts, some from the outer limits.

"I just wish he would get over halfcourt before he tries the 3," Boeheim cracked. "He's a scorer and obviously he gave us a big, big lift today."

Hart also had six assists and five rebounds and controlled the tempo when Thomas left the game

"I got into a rhythm," Hart said. "I became much more aggressive when he went out because I knew we needed more offense."

Reed Rawlings scored 19 of his 28 points in the first half, but Samford still trailed 37-30 at the break. Derrick Jones added 13 points and Marc Salyers 10.

Samford, seeded No. 13 after winning the Trans Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament, returned all five starters from last year's embarrassing 69-43 loss to St. John's in its first NCAA appearance. The Bulldogs trailed 15-0 and didn't score in the opening 10 minutes.

They again fell behind early, but didn't fade until the final minutes.

"We felt much more comfortable than last year," forward Will Daniel said. "But we let them get offensive rebounds and putbacks."

The Orangemen led by as many as 10 points in each half, but every time the lead hit double figures the Bulldogs made a run.

A 9-2 spurt fueled by 3-pointers by Jones and Salyers brought Samford as close as 49-46 with 13:14 remaining. But the Orangemen countered on Griffin's free throw and a pair of baskets by Hart to push the lead to seven.

On top 56-50, Syracuse which hit 67 percent of its shots from the field in the second half and finished at 55 percent scored 17 of the next 25 points. Blackwell scored six points during the run that made it 73-58.

Samford, which led the nation in field-goal percentage at 50.3 percent, was seldom able to get the ball inside and ended up at 41 percent (21-of-51).

"Our inability to defend was really the problem," Tillette said. "This was not our best game."

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