Wes Johnson raced behind St. Francis guard Justin Newton, waiting for his chance to leap. As Newton went up for a lay-up, the opportunity presented itself and Johnson skied toward the rim, swatting the ball away midway through the second half of Syracuse’s 75-51 win over St. Francis (N.Y.) Sunday.

A few seconds later, Herman Wrice attempted to score in the lane, but Johnson came from left to right and knocked the ball to the other side of the court as the crowd roared in appreciation. Buckets were not going to come easy for the Terriers in this half.

‘It’s basically having fun,’ Johnson said. ‘Just really have to do something to spark the crowd and get the team going after that. I got the second block, and Kris (Joseph) got a steal, and I think that really sparked us in the right way.’

Johnson’s blocks were part of a stingy second-half defensive effort during Syracuse’s 75-51 victory Sunday. After a lethargic first-half performance, Syracuse held St. Francis to just 26.7 percent shooting in the second half, while forcing 14 turnovers. St. Francis shot just 17-of-58 (29.3 percent) for the game.

‘I thought in the second half we were more active on defense,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘We only forced three turnovers in the first half and they slowed it down, and they did a good job of spreading us out, and we just weren’t as active.’

In the first half, St. Francis attempted more three-pointers than two-point shots, but hit six-of-15. On its first three-pointer of the game, pass after pass led to a wide-open look for Stefan Perunicic on the right wing, and he connected to give St. Francis a 5-2 lead.

Syracuse was not collapsing on the Terriers’ shooters like it needed to, though St. Francis was taking shots from long distances. The Terriers only scored on three two-point buckets in the half.

The Orange came into the game forcing 20.7 turnovers per game but only created three in the first half. The lack of steals and turnovers did not allow Syracuse to turn the contest into a transition battle.

When halftime rolled around with the Orange nursing a 38-26 lead, the locker room discussion was focused on how to get Syracuse back to the brand of defensive ball it had been playing all season.

‘We felt we let each other down a little bit,’ shooting guard Andy Rautins said of the first half. ‘It was a disappointing effort in the first half for sure on defense, and we all got into each other and held each other responsible for the effort we had out there, and we wanted to come out in the second with better energy.’

The newfound energy led to a typical Syracuse defensive performance. St. Francis could not find its stroke from downtown, hitting just two-of-nine shots from the arc. The Orange closed out on the shooters and kept St. Francis relying on its long-range game, where the Terriers normally shoot 29.3 percent.

Syracuse found ways to intercept passes and push the half-court game, which led to fast-break points. The Orange was aggressive in getting to the ball and stripping it from its opponents, creating the 14 turnovers that led to 16 points.

Johnson’s two blocks, with the Orange leading 55-33, helped ignite the crowd and keep the momentum rolling. The Orange finished with seven blocks in the second half, including a couple by freshman DaShonte Riley. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, St. Francis scored just one basket.

‘We did a poor job of getting to shooters in the first, and I think we made adjustments in the second half,’ Rautins said. ‘We were getting to their shooters from the high post and getting back to overall a much better defensive effort in the second half, but still overall, a little disappointing effort for the whole game.’

Boeheim semi-exonerated his team’s defensive effort Sunday, talking about how this game followed Thursday night’s win over No. 10 Florida in Tampa, Fla. But the players wouldn’t have any of it. Come Big East time, letdowns could spell doom.

‘We knew they missed a lot of shots they could have made, all those ins and outs, those threes, it could’ve been a tie game going into the second half,’ Johnson said. ‘So we knew coming off that, win we just really had to take nobody lightly and just come out with the game plan that we do everybody else.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

Published on December 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm