ORANGE CRUSH

Johnnies break through in shocking rout

SYRACUSE — Chris Mullin couldn’t muster much of anything to describe the previous two hours.

Alley-oops flying through the Carrier Dome air. An entire bench rising and exploding while a dejected Syracuse sideline remained motionless. A 33-point evisceration that, on paper, a team with losses to Delaware State and LIU Brooklyn had no business handing down.

But somehow, some way, this St. John’s team orchestrated a shredding of the Syracuse zone that Jim Boeheim’s famed defense had no answer for in a 93-60 rout Wednesday night.

In his V-neck sweater and sandals, Mullin seemed nonchalant, as if his job has never been doubted, as if his team was capable all along of issuing the biggest beat-down of Syracuse (7-5 and coming off a 48-point win over Eastern Michigan) in Carrier Dome history.

“The thing I have learned in the short stint,” Mullin said, “is you never really know with these young guys.”

Don’t mind the sub-.500 record. Or the fact that two players who combined for 32 points in last year’s win over the Orange, Federico Mussini and Amar Alibegovic, were injured and did not play this time around. Or that the Red Storm’s best win this season had come against Binghamton.

None of that seemed to matter as St. John’s (6-7) raced out to a 10-point halftime lead, behind a teamleading 11 points from Shamorie Ponds and seven 3pointers that exposed the perimeter of the zone just like Mussini and Alibegovic did last season. The Johnnies forced 10 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes and turned them into 18 points, exposing this Syracuse team for what it is — a group without an offensive playmaker.

And when the Orange seemed to finally turn on the switch, with DaJuan Coleman scoring on three straight possessions in the paint to start the second half, St. John’s had an answer every time. Kassoum Yakwe, then Bashir Ahmed, then Yakwe again. The visitors wouldn’t fold like they did against Penn State just three days earlier.

“We just dealt with a 35-5 run against us,” Mullin said. “Sometimes you can’t explain it.”

From there, it almost seemed like Syracuse stopped trying. It seemed easy for the Red Storm, as three straight possessions ended with emphatic dunks. After Syracuse’s Frank Howard clanked a tomahawk attempt off the front rim at one end, Ahmed soared through the air to flush home a lob with two hands at the other, inciting a frenzy on the visiting bench, the end of which featured a hobbled Alibegovic bouncing up and down.

“It’s always a great thing when you have such a huge lead and everybody gets to get a piece of the pie,” sophomore Malik Ellison said. “It’s just a fun way of playing.”

Even though the Johnnies still sit one game below .500, that’s what it was on Wednesday night, fun. Syracuse trotted out its walk-ons with a minute and a half remaining to the biggest cheers the home crowd let out all night.

Mullin said he tries to emulate Boeheim, the 41-year head coach who coached to stop Mullin so many times during old Big East battles. His 2-3 zone, Mullin said, is the best in basketball. But there’s something about the Orange, the team that Mullin has more wins over (two) than Big East opponents combined (one), that kicks the Johnnies into gear.

There wasn’t much explanation after this one from St. John’s — coach or players — but quite frankly, that didn’t matter.

“We’re always there,” Ponds said. “Through good wins, bad losses, we’re just here.”