University of Missouri
#17 Syracuse
Tigers Toppled By No. 19 Syracuse
1/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 12, 2004
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Hakim Warrick had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 17 Syracuse pulled away in the second half to beat Missouri 82-68 Monday night for its 12th straight victory.
Coach Jim Boeheim won his 665th career game, pulling ahead of John Wooden for 19th on the career Division I victory list. He's 665-227 in 28 seasons at Syracuse.
The Orangemen (12-1) are unbeaten since losing the opener to Charlotte. This was their first true road game, and first time outside New York, and they were impressive against a team ranked as high as third earlier in the season.
Five players contributed to a 16-2 run that put the game away in the second half, turning a three-point lead into a 59-42 edge with 11:13 to go. Warrick capped the run with his third dunk of the game, and 37th of the season, off a feed from Josh Pace.
Missouri (6-6) was frustrated throughout by Syracuse's 2-3 zone and went almost five minutes between points during its drought. The Tigers, who got a season-best 25 points from Rickey Paulding, have lost five of seven after starting the season 3-1, and are 4-2 at home including an upset loss to Belmont last month.
The Tigers twice cut the deficit to eight points in the final four minutes. But Syracuse was clicking in all areas, including making 17 consecutive free throws at one point after entering the game shooting only 63 percent from the line.
Warrick has four double-doubles this season and paced an attack that had four players in double figures. Seven-footer Craig Forth added a career-best 18 points, hitting six of his first seven shots on layups off slick feeds.
Gerry McNamara had 17 points, including three 3-pointers, for Missouri, and Josh Pace added 15, and McKinney 12.
Syracuse finished the first half on a 14-4 run, getting six points from Warrick and the last four from Pace and connecting on its last five shots. That erased a four-point deficit, giving the Orangemen a 38-32 lead at the break.
