PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The strong hedge at the top of the key forced Scoop Jardine to reject Fab Melo’s screen. The Syracuse point guard crossed over from left to right and dove into the heart of the Rutgers defense.

He cut back to his left through the lane — away from the basket — and tossed up a contested, one-handed floater with less than a minute remaining in the first half.

The shot missed the rim by a foot. Not even close.

But there was C.J. Fair, gliding in from the weak side to pluck the ball from the air and slam it home for the Orange.

‘Son of a gun, I’ll kill C.J. Fair,’ Rutgers head coach Mike Rice said. ‘He is the best — that’s what is not fair about Syracuse. You think you have everything covered, and then C.J. Fair comes along, who is the best rebounding wing we’ve faced all year.’

Fair poured in a game-high and career-high 21 points Sunday to help lead SU past a scrappy Rutgers team 74-64 on the road. He did the bulk of his damage, 14 points and six rebounds, in the first half to keep the Orange afloat offensively. Fair’s timely offensive rebounds and efficiency from the field frustrated the Scarlet Knights in what was arguably the best game of his Syracuse career.

The sophomore replaced starting power forward Rakeem Christmas at the 17:46 mark of the first half and remained on the floor for the final 38 minutes.

He scored all but two of his 14 first-half points in the final 6:57 of play, including a stretch where he accounted for 10 of 12 points for the Orange.

‘C.J. was great in the first half,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘He was unbelievable in the first half.’

Rather than creating his own shot, Fair’s points were the result of equal parts hustle and crisp offense.

His first two points of the game came at the free-throw line, where he was a perfect 8-of-8, after a quick drive to the rim in transition.  His next two points, also free-throws, were the product of a well-timed backdoor cut and an excellent pass from Jardine.

Later, he took to the offensive glass. First by attacking the weak side for a tip-in after a James Southerland missed jumper, then for the emphatic dunk off the Jardine air ball.

‘(That’s) just position and trying to time where and when the ball is going to go off at,’ Fair said. ‘Sometimes I came up lucky — I think someone shot an air ball, and I was right there. That’s all it is about getting position and not giving up on a play.

‘We’ve got good players on the perimeter, and sometimes I think defenders watch them operate and lose me.’

But in the second half, the Rutgers defenders watched Fair.

They watched as he demonstrated versatility, stepping out to the right corner to bury a 3-pointer that pushed the SU lead to 51-46 with 13:39 remaining. They were still watching as he cut backdoor to dazzle the crowd with a reverse, two-handed alley-oop off a perfect feed from Jardine.

‘Oh my god, that was the highlight,’ Melo said. ‘I loved it.’

The highlight-reel dunk would be Fair’s final field goal of the game after shooting 6-of-8 from the floor. He played the role of decoy for the final 11:50, as the Scarlet Knights’ defense finally began to key in on the Orange forward.

Fair continued to leave an imprint on the game defensively, though, chipping in a pair of steals in the final two minutes of the game.

The first resulted in the critical fourth foul on Rutgers center Gilvydas Biruta after SU guard Dion Waiters attacked the rim at the other end of the floor. The second saw Fair dart into the passing line and snatch Rutgers forward Dane Miller’s save attempt under the Syracuse basket.

That allowed Boeheim to call a timeout and set up a play that ended with a cold-blooded 3-pointer from Jardine to extend the lead to seven with 1:12 to go.

On the next Syracuse possession, Fair iced the game with a pair of free throws that gave the Orange an insurmountable nine-point cushion.

‘He was insane,’ Melo said. ‘He was insane the whole game.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on February 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13