ROSEMONT, Ill. – The tension was such that Jim Boeheim almost fell over the scorer’s table.

As his team raced for a loose-ball rebound on the defensive end while holding a tenuous three-point lead, the Syracuse head coach leaned all of his body weight on the table and lay perched – feet off the ground – as if willing his players to grab the ball. They did.

And somehow, battling fatigue and foul trouble, an unfamiliar environment and an inefficient offense, Syracuse won enough of those game-defining battles to escape the Windy City with a victory.

Syracuse defeated DePaul, 60-55, Wednesday night in front of 9,365 at Allstate Arena, thanks to an opportunistic offense that made plays when it mattered despite struggling most of the night. That offense was keyed by a monstrous effort from Arinze Onuaku, who finished with a game-best 22 points.

Even without Scoop Jardine, still suspended by the university, Syracuse improved to 15-7 (5-4), and earned its first road Big East win of the season. Syracuse played six scholarship players the entire game, and walk-on Justin Thomas played about 20 seconds in the first half.

‘The way we started in the Big East on the road was tough, so it’s good to get one,’ said Boeheim, who moved into sole possession of 10th place on the all-time coaching wins list. ‘It wasn’t pretty, we did play well at Georgetown, that was a game we kind of let slip away. We didn’t make the big plays, like we did tonight.’

Unlike Georgetown 10 days ago, the Orange made the plays down the stretch to ensure a victory.

With just over a minute remaining, an errant Syracuse pass was headed for the backcourt and out of bounds when Donte Greene acrobatically saved it to Jonny Flynn, who found Paul Harris down low. Harris took advantage of a mismatch and scored an easy basket to put the Orange up, 56-53.

Then, Greene and Harris swarmed DePaul guard Cliff Clinkscales – who entered the game tops in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio – and forced a turnover. After a timeout, Harris was fouled and hit two free throws with 31.8 seconds left to make it 58-53, and wrap up a win that showed nothing less than exceptional character from the Orange.

‘It shows that we came a long way from the beginning of the season and Big East play,’ SU guard Jonny Flynn said. ‘… We didn’t shoot the ball good at all. Only AO and Paul had great games for us. Just showing everybody stepping up it’s a good tough game and we got quality minutes out of everybody.’

Indeed, both teams lacked any offensive rhythm for long stretches, and shot horribly from beyond the arc. SU was 1-for-13 from 3-point land, while the Blue Demons (9-11, 4-4) were 3-for-18. Overall, the Blue Demons shot just 34.8 percent on the game.

SU’s two main scoring options, Jonny Flynn and Donte Greene, both struggled. Greene finished with 14 points on 4-of-15 shooting, while Flynn had six points and one assist.

Still, SU stayed in the game thanks to DePaul’s struggles and the play of Onuaku, who carried the Orange on the offensive end with 22 points – including 12 in the second half – on 10-of-13 shooting, and nine rebounds.

‘They were playing behind me and they weren’t doubling, so I just tried to go at them every time,’ Onuaku said. ‘We work on those moves every day in practice, but most teams double. So a team like this that doesn’t double, you just go at them.’

Syracuse took advantage of icy shooting by DePaul (2-for-15 over the final 8:23 of the first half) to go into halftime on a 13-4 run and lead, 32-31.

SU fell behind briefly in the second half before Onuaku stepped in. With the score 40-38, Onuaku scored 10 of the Orange’s next 14 points as SU retook a slim lead even without the services of Greene, who had to sit for six minutes in the second half due to foul trouble.

DePaul cut the lead to one, 54-53, with two Karron Clarke free throws before Harris countered with his own lay-in with a minute to play. Harris and Greene then forced what proved perhaps the game’s most crucial play, the Clinkscales turnover.

And after a few free throws to ice the game, it was time for Boeheim to breathe a little easier and reflect on the indomitable effort his team displayed.

‘Our kids, they battled hard all year and they’ve lost the veteran guys we really needed and the young guys have taken as much charge as they really can,’ Boeheim said. ‘Kristof, Paul made the free throws, those are big steps for us. Hopefully we can get better as we go along.’

Published on January 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm