NEW YORK – There’s been much ado about the Syracuse offense recently. And for the first time in weeks, that clamoring is positive.

An opportunistic offense led the Syracuse men’s basketball team to a 75-60 win over struggling St. John’s on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden in front of a generously listed 11,473 fans. Senior Gerry McNamara led all scorers with 23 points.

It was only the second win in seven games for the Orange, which now returns home for five of its last seven games of the regular season.

‘When we can be effective offensively, we’re tough,’ McNamara said. ‘When we’re effective, (Darryl Watkins) and Terrence (Roberts) are a little bit more effective. There’s a reason that happens. We open things up for them and when they’re playing well, they open things up for us. It works both ways.’

The senior guard had his third most accurate showing this season, making 7-of-15 shots. He only shot better against Colgate and Cincinnati.

But McNamara wasn’t the only one to return to form. Freshman Eric Devendorf found holes in the St. John’s defense, easily driving to the basket for open looks. He recovered from a 0-for-11 performance against Connecticut on Wednesday to make 9-of-11 field goals on Sunday. He finished with 18 points.

‘When Gerry and Eric got in there, they finished,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘Eric got the same shots he did against Connecticut … Gerry and Eric were very good, that was the difference.’

The Orange (17-7, 5-5 Big East) made 54.9 percent of its shots, a large turnaround from its 31.9 percent showing against the Huskies. SU was in control throughout on Sunday, extending a 34-29 halftime lead into a comfortable double-digit margin in the second half.

Syracuse recovered from the poor showing at Connecticut by using a balanced attack. Four SU players scored in double digits and 10 Orange scored, including junior Louie McCroskey, who returned to the team after missing a week of practice and the UConn game. He finished with one point in 10 minutes.

With Devendorf and McNamara making shots that weren’t falling during the previous six games, St. John’s (10-12, 3-8) pushed its defense out to stop the guards. Syracuse capitalized on the stretched defense, either by penetrating with Devendorf and McNamara or dumping the ball in to Watkins.

Watkins registered his second consecutive solid game, scoring 11 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking four shots to go along with five steals.

‘I think I played real well,’ Watkins said. ‘There’s been real pressure for me to come out and play well. It was real important to come out here, win on the road and recover from that loss at UConn.’

The center’s performance proved to be more important with Roberts, the other inside presence for the Orange, in frequent foul trouble. Roberts played only 22 minutes, picking up two quick fouls 7:30 into the first half.

Roberts converted on the most spectacular play of the game, grabbing a McNamara fast-break pass out of the air to finish an alley-oop with 15 minutes left in the game.

‘We needed a big win and I think we got a big win,’ Roberts said. ‘We definitely played the way we wanted to play. We came out and did a good job doing all the little things and now we got a win.’

Published on February 12, 2006 at 12:00 pm