CINCINNATI — Cashmere Wright was unconscious. His 25-footer from the left wing was pure. Another 3 from the wing in transition, that’s easy. A third dagger from so deep on the right side that he was closer to the sideline than the 3-point arc, he swished that through, too.

Behind Wright’s white-hot shooting, Cincinnati experienced a dream start against Syracuse on Monday night in the sold-out Fifth Third Arena. Four 3s in less than four minutes, a seven-point lead.

To Brandon Triche, it felt like South Bend, Ind., all over again.

‘Definitely, we were thinking like, ‘Oh, man,” Triche said. ‘But we scored a few points. We were scoring a little easier. We figured we were going to get it going.’

And that was the difference.

Between the anemic performance against Notre Dame that resulted in Syracuse’s first loss of the season Saturday and the opening tip Monday, the Orange (21-1, 8-1 Big East) found its counterpunch. The Bearcats’ (15-6, 5-3 Big East) lead that swelled to nine only five minutes into the game never increased, and SU fought its way off the ropes to earn an impressive 60-53 win over Cincinnati. Syracuse rode the 41 combined points from its three leaders — Scoop Jardine, Kris Joseph and Triche — right out of Fifth Third Arena, leaving the crowd of 13,176 disappointed.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim moved into sole possession of fourth place on the Division-I head coach all-time wins list, passing Adolph Rupp with his 877th win.

‘The game against Notre Dame we got off to a bad start, and we just never kicked back, never fought back and everybody played poorly,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘Tonight, they hit the four 3s. Sometimes it’s a good thing when they start early like that. And we kicked back.’

It was a kick that began near the end of the first half, courtesy of SU’s leading scorer, Joseph, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds. He hit a short jumper from the left wing to bring Syracuse within one at 25-24, and then he followed it up with a stunning one-handed dunk in which he took off well beyond the paint along the baseline.

Finally, Syracuse had a lead. And when Dion Waiters connected on a jumper to end the first half, the Orange snuck into halftime with a 28-25 cushion.

‘I thought that was unexpected. It just kind of came out almost out of nowhere,’ Boeheim said. ‘We made a couple good plays.’

In the second half, SU’s triumvirate of experience took over. From the 9:32 mark until the end of the game, Jardine, Joseph and Triche were the only Syracuse players to score any points from that point forward. Eight field goals and a free throw to combine for 20 points.

It began with Jardine (13 points, six assists) ending a 0-of-8 stretch for the Orange from 3-point range. His one-dribble pull-up in the face of Wright ended 30 minutes and 28 seconds of misfiring.

A minute later, Jardine hit Triche with a pass on the right wing. The oft-reserved Triche drilled the 3 to put SU up 46-42 and gave a rare fist pump and yell.

‘Those veteran guys, that’s who you’ve got to go with in these situations,’ Boeheim said. ‘They were big. They came up big.’

The Bearcats pulled within six at the 4:14 mark of the second half, bringing the crowd to its feet following Justin Jackson’s pretty reverse layup.

But Jardine took the onus on himself to knife to the rim and bump the lead back up to eight. A layup by Triche on the next possession provided the response to a layup by Yancy Gates.

Each time the crowd roared with anticipation, a Syracuse veteran silenced it. On and off the mute button went until Jardine refused to let go.

He came off a screen at the top of the key, skirting the hedge attempt by Gates and squaring up for a game-sealing 3. Backpedaling down court, he grinned in the direction of Waiters and assistant coaches Gerry McNamara and Mike Hopkins.

‘That was a big shot for me,’ Jardine said. ‘I just took what he gave me. Yancy backed up, I was confident in going and making the shot. And I got one to fall at the right time, and we needed it.’

Boeheim called it the best bounce-back win he can remember in his tenure at Syracuse, the perfect remedy to avoid a losing streak like the four-game skid that last year’s team endured. Jardine called it the biggest win of the season. Triche called it much-needed.

And McNamara said without the big three, it wouldn’t have happened.

‘Those guys, we’re going to go as far as they take us and be as good as they are in every game,’ McNamara said. ‘They performed tonight.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on January 23, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13