PITTSBURGH — Following a loss in which Syracuse was pounded on the boards, all talk centered on rebounding.

That is, how the Orangemen can possibly return to the promise their season held just five days ago before a pair of road defeats.

In front of a deafening, sellout crowd of 6,798 at Fitzgerald Field House, Pittsburgh hammered the No. 12 Orangemen last night, 72-57, posting a staggering edge in rebounding while pushing within a half game of Syracuse (16-4, 5-1 Big East) for the Big East West lead.

Julius Page led the Panthers (17-3, 5-2) with 21 points, but it was the rebounding and defensive work of teammates Jaron Brown and Toree Morris that kept the Orangemen from making a run.

“We usually get up there in the 75-, 80-point range,” freshman Craig Forth said. “So to knock us down 20 points is quite an accomplishment. So yeah, I’d say they’re pretty darn good.”

No witness will question that now. Brown, a 6-foot-4 guard, provided a multitude of second-chance points for the Panthers — a stat in which they held a 22-0 edge.

Pitt took the lead for good midway through the first half when Brown, who led the team with 10 rebounds, grabbed the ball over a skyline of Orange and snuck a pass to Page, who popped an open three-pointer.

“Jaron Brown — he’s a tough little dude,” said Syracuse center Billy Celuck, who tapped in a season-high six points. “He goes outside and inside and he’s got a big body that’s tough to move.”

Now, the Panthers are on the move. Ranked 25th in the ESPN Coaches’ Poll entering the week, Pitt wakes up this morning within striking distance of the Orangemen. The teams meet again Feb. 10 at the Carrier Dome.

By then, head coach Jim Boeheim hopes to have rectified most of what he saw last night.

“If you take away the rebounding problems it’s, at worse, an even game,” Boeheim said, noting the 43-18 rebounding deficit against Pittsburgh and a similar, 45-27 difference in the previous game at Tennessee. “I really wish there was other stuff to talk about. This game — you get outrebounded by 25 rebounds there’s not much to talk about.”

Aside from Celuck, one other Syracuse player provided some reason for mention. James Thues, who scored a career-high 15 points in 38 minutes, helped keep the game from becoming lopsided.

When Thues’ layup at 7:19 of the second swirled in to make the score 54-47, concern on the Panther bench grew, Pitt point guard Brandin Knight said.

Last season, Pittsburgh lost to the Orangemen at the Field House after holding a 15-point lead. More recently, the Panthers allowed Georgetown to come back from 17 points down and Rutgers to rally from 14.

“But we came together,” said Knight, who notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists. “We decided that we weren’t going to let this one slip away. We had some big defensive stops, especially with our rebounding at the end of the game. That’s the way we’ve got to put teams away.”

Just when it appeared SU was charging for another frantic comeback, Knight did exactly that.

Preston Shumpert, who paced the Orangemen with 17 points yet had just six in the second half, started the potential SU comeback with a drive into the paint plus a foul. Celuck followed on the next possession by driving down the baseline for a flashy finger-roll.

Then Knight buried a three-pointer, and Page added his own trifecta the next time down the court, putting a quick end to SU’s jolt of momentum.

“They had a lot of sparks tonight,” Forth said. “But that’s only because we weren’t playing defense the right way. You can’t explain it.”

Nor could Forth explain his own performance. The 7-foot center failed to score a point before fouling out with two minutes to play.

“I think we have to get stronger mentally on this team — to begin with, myself,” Forth said afterward in a solemn locker room. “I get down on myself way too much, and I’m not playing my best because I get so upset. It’s affecting other people because I’m getting so down.

“We’re a better team than we showed tonight.”

Published on January 22, 2002 at 12:00 pm