After Syracuse’s Matt Gorman watched another typical first half primarily from the bench – he scored two points in four minutes as Syracuse took a one-point halftime lead over Cincinnati on Wednesday night – the forward suddenly became the No. 1 scoring option for the first time in his career.

When all of Syracuse’s other options could not score in the second half, the Orange turned to the fourth-year junior to possibly save its NCAA Tournament hopes. Though Gorman responded with one valiant stretch, he could not carry a dismal second half offense for Syracuse in a deflating 82-65 loss at the Carrier Dome.

Gorman finished with a career-high 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in only 16 minutes. While the Orange was led in scoring by guard Eric Devendorf (15 points), Gerry McNamara (14) and Demetris Nichols (13), all three of them did most of their damage in a blistering opening 20 minutes.

After scoring 41 points in the first half – only the sixth time all season SU has scored 40 or more in the first half – the Orange put only 25 on the board in the second.

‘Offensively we played probably as well as we’ve played in the first half tonight in a long time,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘And in the second half we just made some mistakes – bad turnovers – and Cincinnati took advantage of that and played very well.’

It was after Cincinnati took command of the game when Syracuse turned to Gorman. He scored eight of nine points during one four-minute stretch in the middle of the second half when SU was only down by single digits. Known more of a finesse big man, Gorman’s points came both on outside shots and inside banging.

His first basket in the stretch came on a baby hook from the right side with 12:35 remaining. He was fouled and converted the free throw for a three-point play that cut the deficit to 57-53.

‘Matt’s capable of scoring – he’s a low post player and he made a couple good plays inside offensively and that was a positive coming out of this game,’ Boeheim said.

Several possessions later, Gorman stepped around a screen and nailed a 3-pointer from the left arc, which trimmed the margin to 62-56. Then with 9:13 to play, he grabbed a rebound off a Nichols missed 3-pointer and laid the ball in the basket. SU still trailed by five.

When Gorman stopped scoring, Cincinnati really took control and pulled away for a 17-point win. SU scored six points for the rest of the game after Gorman’s last points. The trio of McNamara, Nichols and Devendorf only made one field goal in the second half.

‘We moved up Demetris and (Cincinnati forward James) White did a good job on him in the second half,’ Boeheim said. ‘Demetris cannot put the ball on the floor – it’s something he’s worked on and got to continue to work on. He’s struggles when somebody gets up (on him). When he gets open looks, he can make shots.’

Gorman took minutes away primarily from Darryl Watkins. SU’s starting center and Terrence Roberts played another miserable game down low with only nine points and eight rebounds combined. But none of the three could handle Cincinnati’s big men on the glass. The Bearcats embarrassed the Orange to the count of a 44-25 margin. Gorman’s put-back was his only rebound.

Entering the game, Gorman’s career-high in scoring came last season against Binghamton on Dec. 11, 2004, when he scored eight points. His best game this season was a five-point, five-rebound effort against Pittsburgh on Jan. 23.

But he said he couldn’t enjoy his first game with double digits in points because the rest of the offense struggled in the second half, and the team is now on the ropes for the NCAA Tournament.

‘You really didn’t accomplish anything,’ Gorman said of setting a career-high. ‘I just want to win. So I’m just going to try and beat Louisville (on Saturday).’

Published on February 15, 2006 at 12:00 pm