PHILADELPHIA — ‘Horrendous’ and ‘awful’ were the two words Jim Boeheim used to describe Syracuse’s end to the first half in the Orange’s 69-64 win over Villanova on Monday.

Holding a seven-point lead after one of its best first halves of the season, 44 seconds of turmoil unfolded for SU in front of Boeheim’s eyes. By the end of it, the Wildcats cut Syracuse’s three-possession lead to a slim two points.

Still, Boeheim said he was fine with the half as a whole. SU held a lead over Villanova on the road, and that trumped anything else.

‘It was crazy, it was a bad ending,’ Boeheim said. ‘But you go into the locker room. You go up two on the road.’

The lead may have washed out the bitter taste of the end-of-half debacle, but it remained one of the biggest 45-second mishaps in Big East basketball all year.

It all started with a rare mistake from Scoop Jardine on the night, as he carried the Orange with 10 points in the half. Jardine made an errant pass crosscourt, which was stolen and converted into a layup by Villanova guard Maalik Wayns. Boeheim then subbed Jardine out as he collected his third foul.

Four seconds later, SU small forward Kris Joseph picked up his third foul and was removed from the game with SU up five.

Then came the nightmarish conclusion to the half. Villanova forward Isaiah Armwood was at the free-throw line, and after hitting his first free throw, Brandon Triche was whistled for a lane violation. Armwood took another shot. This time, Baye Moussa Keita was whistled for a violation. The normally chipper freshman center then provided a dramatic enough gesture to be whistled for a technical foul.

Now down four, the Wildcats sent a 94 percent free-throw shooter in Corey Stokes to the line. Stokes made 1-of-2 attempts. Then Armwood stepped back to the line for his second free throw, which was delayed due to Moussa Keita’s lane violation and technical foul. Armwood made the free throw to pull the Wildcats within two.

From the sidelines, the player who started it all, Jardine, was as confused as everyone else. And he was just as shocked at what had transpired.

‘I don’t know,’ Jardine said when asked what happened. ‘I was on the bench. Every time I turn around, there is one of these calls on us. It was crazy.’

Fair OK after first-half scare

C.J. Fair said he got scared when he came down hard on his ankle early in Monday’s game. He said he thought it might be worse than it was.

With Syracuse leading by two with 14:31 to play in the first half, Fair rolled his ankle off a drive toward the basket. He stayed on the ground for a few moments, grimacing in pain before he was helped off the floor and subsequently brought to the locker room.

The injury was first described as a sprained ankle. But it was believed to be not too serious, evidenced by Fair returning to the floor not long after.

‘I wouldn’t call it a sprain,’ Fair said. ‘I sprained the ankle earlier in the year, and this time I just tweaked it a little bit. I just panicked when it happened because it scared me.’

Fair was limited with his lateral movement but still managed to make a contribution with four points in 30 minutes of action. Defensively, he and Rick Jackson were the enforcers down low.

Boeheim second-guessed himself after the game, saying he may have pushed the freshman too hard when he put him back in the game.

‘C.J. turned his ankle,’ Boeheim said. ‘I probably shouldn’t have gone with him as much as I did, but he’s just been so steady for us.’

Fair has the rest of the week to rest the ankle and get treatment before heading to Washington, D.C., as SU faces Georgetown on Saturday. When asked if he would be ready to go, Fair didn’t hesitate.

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ Fair said. ‘For sure.’

Orange halts Wildcats’ 3-point shooting

After watching film of the last time Syracuse faced Villanova earlier this season, the Orange made a concrete effort not to let the Wildcats get clean looks from the outside.

Force them inside. That was the defensive goal Monday.

‘In Syracuse, these guys, we gave them a lot of room, and they made 3s,’ Boeheim said. ‘Tonight, we wanted to push up on them. We knew it would open up the drive … I thought our big guys did a pretty good job of when they did drive.’

The result was 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) shooting from beyond the arc for the Wildcats. A stark contrast from the 11-for-24 the team shot from downtown on Jan. 22 inside the Carrier Dome.

Stopping the 3 was so strongly emphasized that SU players flew out to the arc with reckless abandon, even putting Villanova’s shooters on the line at times.

‘Last time what killed us was they got too many open 3s,’ Joseph said. ‘This time, only Corey Stokes got 3s, and that was key for us. We made a conscious effort to get out to the shooters, and I think we did a good job with that.’

aljohn@syr.edu

aolivero@syr.edu

Published on February 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm