WASHINGTON – All game, Kris Joseph glared toward Georgetown’s bench. That’s where his motivation was. Not along the Hoyas bench, rather a couple rows up.

With Syracuse’s 23-point lead suddenly sliced to one – 26 seconds showing on the clock – an old AAU coach that Joseph faced in high school shouted toward the SU sophomore again. Syracuse was about to blow it, about to waste away a signature Big East win due to a myriad of fouls.

‘I don’t know!’ Joseph recalled the AAU coach saying. ‘You guys might lose, Big Kris!’

But with one final drip of adrenaline, Joseph crossed over, lunged toward the rim for a layup and secured the victory for Syracuse. Jim Boeheim’s worst-case scenario was nullified.

Haunted by foul trouble, No. 5 Syracuse held on to beat No. 10 Georgetown, 75-71, at the Verizon Center in front of 19,976 fans Thursday. In a flash, a laugher melted into a game of sheer survival. A shooting clinic became a last-man-standing test of will. With Rick Jackson, Arinze Onuaku and Wes Johnson all tiptoeing through the second half in foul trouble, Syracuse escaped.

Moments after his gutsy, one-on-one drive over forward Greg Monroe with nine seconds left, Joseph’s face gleamed. He pointed over to his old AAU foe. The D.C. coach smiled back. Andy Rautins added two insurance free throws. And this one was over.

Shaking his head inside the locker room, Joseph affirmed there are no apologies.

‘In the Big East period, the games are never over,’ Joseph said.

Apparently not. With 12:37 left, Syracuse took a commanding 60-37 lead. The Hoyas were ice cold, Rautins couldn’t miss and an upper deck in all Orange was drowning out the home crowd. But there was an elephant in the room, a disturbing trend Boeheim couldn’t ignore. Even as the Orange turned the game into a one-sided track meet, its frontcourt trio succumbed to foul trouble.

After wrapping up Greg Monroe on the block – and Monroe muttering a sarcastic ‘Thank you!’ to officials – Jackson trudged to the bench with his fourth foul. Onuaku was already banished to the bench with four. With 12 minutes still to go, a mini disaster struck.

Boeheim had no choice. Winterized until next season, reserve center DaShonte Riley was forced into action, forced to do something he was realistically not ready for: body up a future NBA power forward. The Hoyas went on a 10-0 run, and Monroe bullied Riley every chance he could.

Jackson (29 minutes) and Onuaku (13 minutes) eventually fouled out, as Johnson played the final seven minutes with four fouls. Thus, Monroe feasted inside, collecting 20 points and nine boards.

‘If we had lost the game, it’s because we didn’t do a good job of keeping the ball out of there, which we usually do,’ Boeheim said.

Riley admitted he never expected to play Thursday. Why would he? He had played all of five minutes of Big East basketball before being thrown in against Georgetown. This was a season to watch, to learn and to get beat up in practice. Embrace dumbbells. See you next fall.

As the game progressed and the fouls accumulated, assistant coach Mike Hopkins gave Riley a friendly slap on the face and said, ‘You better be ready, buddy! This isn’t a dress rehearsal.’

So there he was, facing the team he spurned for Syracuse as a recruit. Students were sure to remind Riley of his decision. And Monroe kept coming.

‘It was real nerve-racking,’ said Riley, who scored zero points in five minutes. ‘I got in there and tried to get loose a little bit, but it was very unexpected.’

Players agreed that it’s a minor miracle Syracuse got this far without its towering frontcourt hampered by foul trouble. Never has this Syracuse team faced such a doomsday of fouls. With Onuaku and Jackson riding the bench, SU shot 6-of-21 in the second half before Joseph’s bucket.

‘It’s frustrating, especially when they’re the rocks of your team,’ said Rautins, who led the Orange with 26 points. ‘There’s nothing you can do about it. You have to move on from there.’

But again, Syracuse weathered a new type of storm. In the middle of what Boeheim called a ‘horrendous night,’ Joseph halted the comeback. As great as Monroe was – ramming his 250-pound frame into Riley every chance he could – he was still the goat on that deciding play versus Joseph.

Joseph’s isolation drive was by design. Boeheim wanted to get either Joseph or Scoop Jardine one-on-one against Monroe. A streetball mismatch. For one play, Monroe was a clunky, out-of-position loner. Not an overbearing force.

As Joseph explained the play, Jardine jokingly smacked him in the head. He could have been the hero. Instead, Joseph drew Monroe, scored, and Syracuse survived. Really, that’s all that matters. The Orange encountered, and overcame, another obstacle.

‘We’re the only team in NCAA that hasn’t lost a road game yet,’ Joseph said. ‘So that’s a good thing. We have confidence on the road just like we’re at home.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on February 21, 2010 at 12:00 pm