CLEVELAND — Sitting across from each other in the locker room of Quicken Loans Arena, Scoop Jardine and Dion Waiters finally had a chance to discuss the turn of events that ended their season. The two cousins calmly went back and forth, trying to figure out what happened only minutes earlier.

‘I know it wasn’t backcourt, I know it,’ Jardine said to Waiters inside the locker room. ‘But I didn’t see the replay. I want to see the replay.’

The closing seconds ticked off in a blur. One moment, Syracuse had the game under control and a chance to take the lead in a tie game. The next moment, an errant Waiters inbounds pass became a backcourt violation as Jardine attempted to bring the ball to the frontcourt while walking the tightrope of the half-court line.

Moments after that turnover, Marquette guard Darius Johnson-Odom knocked down the dagger for the second time this season against the Orange.

Johnson-Odom’s déjà vu 3-pointer with just 27 seconds remaining gave the Golden Eagles (22-14) the lead for good. The final seconds ran off, and the third-seeded Orange (27-8) was shocked by No. 11 Marquette, 66-62, in front of 20,164 — its ticket to the Sweet 16 left unpunched. Eighteen turnovers doomed SU in a game in which neither team could pull away and every single possession mattered.

‘In the past, we’ve lost in the Sweet 16 and weren’t satisfied,’ SU’s lone senior Rick Jackson said. ‘So for us to take a step back, I’m not satisfied with that.’

For Jackson and his teammates, it wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Not when Syracuse entered the game having won seven of eight.

But like last year, in an unexpected loss to Butler in the Sweet 16, the turnovers proved costly. For all of Syracuse’s 18 turnovers, it was the final one — the backcourt violation — that abruptly ended its season.

‘It was just miscommunication,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘We were looking for Kris (Joseph) first, and he was covered. Scoop was coming back, and I think he just needed to wait a second for him to get clear.

‘It’s not one guy. It’s one play.’

After Johnson-Odom’s shot put Marquette ahead 62-59, Jardine had a chance to answer with a 3 of his own on the ensuing possession. But his potential game-tying running jumper from the top of the key bounced hard off the backboard and rim, and the Golden Eagles grabbed the rebound.

Syracuse found ways to overcome its recurring turnover problems and pull out victories all season. Against St. John’s on Jan. 12, 20 turnovers didn’t faze the Orange as it steamrolled the Red Storm by double digits.

But that wasn’t the case Sunday. Costly turnovers allowed Marquette to hang around in a game Syracuse players believe they should have won.

‘That was the story of the game,’ Joseph said. ‘We turned the ball over quite a bit.’

Despite racking up 10 turnovers in the first half Sunday, the Orange maintained a lead for the majority of the game. But Marquette kept prying the ball away and getting to the free-throw line on the other end.

The Golden Eagles shot 23 free throws to SU’s seven. Most importantly, they converted 19 of them and were clutch at the stripe when it really mattered.

In a span of merely a few seconds, Syracuse went from being one basket shy of advancing to the Sweet 16 to watching the season go up in flames.

‘With ‘Unfinished Business’ being our motto, we definitely didn’t finish,’ SU shooting guard Brandon Triche said.

One less turnover could have made the difference. And Jardine’s attempt to fetch Waiters’ throw-in may not have been a backcourt violation, as replays show. Jardine was in midair in the frontcourt as his outstretched arm corralled the ball from the backcourt and his right foot landed on the half-court line.

According to the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Rulebook, Rule 4, Section 3, Article 8 states: ‘After a jump ball or during a throw-in, the player in his/her front court, who makes the initial touch on the ball while both feet are off the playing court, may be the first to secure control of the ball and land with one or both feet in the back court. It makes no difference if the first foot down was in the front court or back court.’

But the referees made a judgment call. In the locker room, eyes glazed over, Jardine contemplated that moment.

After a few minutes, it finally sunk in. There was one thing that made sense.

‘We had the game won until the last minute,’ Jardine said. ‘It sucks because we knew we had this one and let it slip away.’

aljohn@syr.edu

Published on March 19, 2011 at 12:00 pm