St. John's can't get by Syracuse

As they left the Madison Square Garden court one last time, it was clear how far the St. John's seniors had come. They were not a New York afterthought anymore. They were part of an accomplished, respected team that is on its way to the NCAA Tournament.

The only thing wrong with the scene for the seniors was that it showed they did not go quite as far as they had hoped. They left one item unchecked on the checklist. They never did beat Syracuse, although they did try like heck in a 79-73 loss Thursday in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal.

St. John's overcame the loss of a key player, forward D.J. Kennedy, who left with a serious right knee injury with 14:25 left in the first half and never returned. He tore his ACL and will not be available for St. John's in the NCAA Tournament.

It finally overcame the Orange's legendary 2-3 zone, pounding the glass and running the break. It just could not overcome the team that never lost to St. John's in the four years that the nine Storm seniors were playing. St. John's was 8-2 at the Garden this season, with both defeats against you-know-who.

Certainly, this was one of the better games St. John's (21-11) has played against Syracuse (26-6) since Jan. 21, 2007, the last Storm victory against its personal great white whale. At least Thursday was much more intense than the 76-59 drubbing Jan. 12.

"We're from the inner city, they're upstate. It's an all-out brawl to see who's the best in New York," said Dwight Hardy, who scored 22 points for St. John's, many of them on shots from improbable angles. "In basketball, there's going to be a winner and a loser. Unfortunately, we were the loser both times. But we played as hard as we can. We lost one of our best players and we had to play basically the whole game without him. I think we did a real good job."

There was all manner of motivation for St. John's, not the least of which was overcoming the stain on its two-point win over Rutgers on Wednesday (the referees who blew the final calls withdrew from the tournament Thursday). The Storm had to overcome the embarrassment of seeing video of Justin Brownlee's uncalled traveling and out-of-bounds violations. Brownlee was especially strong inside Thursday, with 15 points and seven rebounds.

"They beat us up on the glass. They beat us with second-chance points," Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine said. Backcourt mate Brandon Triche, who had 15 of his 22 points in the second half, said, "I think they were being disruptive defensively . . . they contained us."

Better yet for the Storm, it answered the noise from the Syracuse fans who always populate the Garden. St. John's fans roared on plays such as the high lob from Malik Boothe that fed a resounding slam by Justin Burrell.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim acknowledged that the game turned on a few plays that could have gone either way, such as the offensive rebound by Rick Jackson, who fed the cutting Kris Joseph for a layup with 1:16 left, making the score 72-68. "If they get the ball and go down and score," Boeheim said, "we lose."

But they didn't lose. The Orange will play Connecticut Friday night in a rematch of their six-overtime tournament game two years ago. St. John's settled for almost surely having fulfilled its lofty goal of making The Big Dance. "And now," coach Steve Lavin said, "we're not satisfied."