STORRS, Conn. — Ryan Boatright needed two right-handed dribbles to curl around the screen set by Roscoe Smith. Working from the left side of the court back toward the top of the key, Boatright’s third dribble was a crossover from right to left that split Dion Waiters and Scoop Jardine at the top of the Syracuse 2-3 zone.

His penetration sucked in Fab Melo, and Boatright lofted a floater up and over the 7-footer. In swept Andre Drummond, left hand extended far above that of any other player on the court. With a soft touch he tipped in Boatright’s miss, tying the game with 47 seconds remaining.

‘With his ability to finish above the rim and you’re pulling Fab away from the basket, I think it gave opportunities for Drummond to tip some balls in and get some lobs over the top,’ SU assistant coach Gerry McNamara said.

It was a recipe Connecticut (17-11, 7-9 Big East) turned to time and time again in the second half Saturday night, relying on Drummond’s hyper athleticism to convert missed shots into putbacks and lob passes into vicious dunks. And though the Huskies ultimately came up two points short against the Orange (29-1, 16-1 Big East), falling 71-69 in front of a sold-out crowd at Gampel Pavilion, UConn’s freshman center shone brightly. He tallied a double-double in the second half alone and finished the game with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Much like in the first two meetings between these two teams, Connecticut opened the game looking to lob the ball to Drummond in behind the back line of the Syracuse defense.

His first two buckets of the game were alley-oop dunks finished over the top of Melo on feeds by guard Shabazz Napier. Both plays caught Melo cheating toward the high post, and Napier was presented with chances for easy lobs over the top.

‘He’s pretty good at catching and dunking,’ Syracuse shooting guard Brandon Triche said. ‘A guy like that, so athletic, he pretty much if he gets one step —even if he gets no steps —he’s pretty much going to dunk it. There’s not too much you can do. He’s got a lot of power behind his jump.’

But later in the half, Melo hung back defensively and broke up a third lob attempt from Napier. And after Drummond tried creating his own offense — a right-handed hook shot that hit nothing but backboard — it was clear any production from the 6-foot-10, 270-pound freshman would come solely at the rim.

That prompted a second-half adjustment by Connecticut associate head coach George Blaney to help get Drummond involved as close to the basket as possible. He slid small forward Roscoe Smith into the high post, forcing Melo to make decisions on defense.

Melo could either step up on Smith and leave Drummond open along the baseline, or hang back on Drummond and allow Smith to take uncontested jumpers from the middle of the lane.

‘That’s the play that kills us, when they put a guy in the middle and I have to come up,’ Melo said. ‘Because if I don’t come up, then they’re going to shoot. When I come up, then they pass the ball down because it’s hard for the forwards to come back on time.’

Smith checked into the game at the 15:20 mark of the second half, and Drummond tipped in his missed jumper on UConn’s very next possession. Ten minutes later, the story was the same. Melo stepped up and partially blocked Smith’s shot, but Drummond caught the deflection and laid it back in to cut the SU lead to two, 63-61, with 5:15 remaining.

Thirteen of Drummond’s 17 points and 10 of his 14 rebounds came in the second half. Six of those 10 rebounds were on the offensive end of the floor.

‘When they mix it up and put the forward in there and had Smith attacking from the high post, it gave (Drummond) some opportunities to crash the offensive glass,’ McNamara said.

With 13 seconds remaining, the Huskies had one final chance to tie the game. Trailing 71-69, it appeared that Blaney wanted to call Drummond’s number again.

Jeremy Lamb fed Smith at the high post, and Smith turned to look down low for Drummond on the block. Melo didn’t budge.

Smith pump-faked, but Melo held his ground. He was determined to stick with Drummond.

The end result was an off-balance shot by Smith with less than two seconds remaining. C.J. Fair stepped in from the left to block it and send Syracuse home with a win.

‘I knew he was going to try to pass it down low to Drummond,’ Melo said. ‘He pump-faked and I didn’t jump. So he didn’t have anywhere to go.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on February 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13