BUFFALO — Wes Johnson walked past midcourt, triumphantly holding his right arm in the air. As the final seconds of a game that had been decided an hour earlier finally ticked away, the emotions began to pour out of him.

It was his day. His show.

He banged that right hand against his chest, administering the same type of blow to his body that he had inflicted on Gonzaga all afternoon long.

Then, as a reminder of what’s to come, he held up four fingers to the crowd seated behind the Syracuse bench that was still savoring the Orange’s impressive 87-65 dismantling of the Bulldogs in Sunday’s second-round game in the NCAA West Regional.

‘We got four games left, that’s all that is,’ Johnson said, referring to the number of wins standing between the Orange and a second national title. ‘We’re trying to win it and we got four games, and we’re trying to keep our mindset focused on that.’

Johnson was every bit of a star attraction, powering Syracuse with a career-high 31 points and 14 rebounds as the top-seeded Orange routed No. 8 seed Gonzaga at HSBC Arena in Buffalo. Syracuse earned a trip to Salt Lake City for a Sweet 16 date with No. 5 seed Butler on Thursday at 7:07 p.m.

 ‘When he’s aggressive like that and looking for his shot, he’s definitely one of the best players in the country, without a doubt,’ shooting guard Andy Rautins said. ‘His unselfishness out of that — 31 points — is what separates him from a lot of players.’

Hampered with injuries down the stretch of the regular season, Johnson’s numbers slipped. He was no longer the dominant force that carried Syracuse to a No. 1 ranking. His shots were bouncing off the rim instead of smoothly dropping through the nets. Johnson said his badly injured right hand prevented him from picking up a laptop, much less controlling a basketball.

Against Georgetown in the Big East tournament on March 11, he scored 24 points and said he finally felt healthy. Friday night, in the NCAA opener against Vermont, he led SU with 18 points. Sunday was no different.

He came out firing, hitting a 3 from the left corner to give SU its first lead at 3-2. Gonzaga retook a 6-3 lead, and Johnson tied it with another 3. He took four of Syracuse’s first five shots, asserting himself like he did before the injury.

 ‘He’s just really getting back — if he hadn’t had this injury, he would be up at an even higher level now than he is,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘He was playing at a really high level, and he was getting better. That just took him right back down for eight games, 10 games.’

Even with Johnson gelling offensively, Syracuse still found itself in a bind. Rick Jackson picked up his third foul with 8:58 left in the first half, rendering him to the bench. SU only led 22-21, rarely used freshman DaShonte Riley was in and Gonzaga appeared poised for a run. Instead, the Orange broke the game open with a brilliant blend of play at both ends of the court.

A quick 9-0 run capped by a Johnson jumper near the 3-point line made it a 10-point game. The Bulldogs (27-7) sliced the lead to 32-28, but another 9-0 run led to a 47-32 halftime lead.

The crowning moment was a 3 by Johnson that gave Syracuse a 41-28 lead and forced Gonzaga head coach Mark Few to call a timeout. Even though the shot had already gone through the net, Johnson made sure to keep his right hand elevated at the end of his shooting motion.

‘I had to (hold the Michael Jordan pose) because nobody was on me,’ Johnson said. ‘I was shooting that shot in warmups and I let it go and it felt good when it left, so I held it up for a little bit.’

And despite the undetermined loss of center Arinze Onuaku, Johnson may be the key cog to carry the Orange the distance. He’s averaging 24.5 points in the Big Dance. The injuries are a thing of the past. He’s the Johnson of old. And the Orange is rolling into Salt Lake City because of it.

‘It’s starting to get real,’ Johnson said. ‘We just have to keep our mindset where it is, on the defensive end and rebounding end, then let everything else take care of itself.’

mrehalt@syr.edu

 

 

Published on March 20, 2010 at 12:00 pm