Piscataway, N.J. — When Darryl Watkins first entered Syracuse’s 86-84 win over Rutgers late in the first half, shouts of ‘traitor’ rained down from the stands at Louis Brown Athletic Center. Two years ago, Watkins chose Syracuse over Rutgers, siding with the school fresh off a national championship rather than the one close to his Paterson, N.J., home.

But last night, the boos didn’t stop Watkins from returning from almost a month off due to a right thumb injury.

Playing with padding covering his right hand, Watkins entered the game with about one minute to play in the first half after foul trouble doomed senior Craig Forth and sophomore Terrence Roberts. Watkins played eight minutes total, but his presence was felt, especially on the defensive end during Syracuse’s full-court press.

‘(Darryl) hustled and worked hard,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘He made a couple of nice passes.’

Sophomore Louie McCroskey said Watkins was emotional on the bench, asking Boeheim to get into the game.

‘He was a presence,’ McCroskey said. ‘Anytime you get Mookie active, good things are going to happen.’

Watkins scored just one point, a free throw that he banked in. The padding on his right hand hampered his ability to shoot and catch the ball, but he still aided the Orange.

‘He really wanted to get out there and play,’ Syracuse senior Hakim Warrick said. ‘He definitely helped us in the press, not giving up any easy layups.’

Boeheim said Billy Edelin is fully back from his nearly 10-month absence from Syracuse, and it’s hard to argue with him.

Edelin continued his success, totaling 14 points in 26 minutes last night while grabbing three rebounds. He also connected on 6-of-7 free throws.

Edelin scored six points in the final nine minutes, including a baseline jumper with 1:21 remaining that put Syracuse ahead, 83-82. On the next possession, with the shot clock running down, the junior had a chance to pad Syracuse’s lead but just missed a jump shot.

One Edelin play overshadowed by the exciting finish was a steal at the end of the first half. Syracuse trailed by 20 at the time, but Edelin’s steal led to a Gerry McNamara layup. Instead of trailing by as many as 22, Syracuse was down just 18. And while insignificant at the time, it did give something positive for the Orange to build on.

Hakim Warrick heard the Rutgers fans shouting at him all game. But with 27 seconds remaining, there was a foul underneath the Syracuse basket. Both Warrick and Craig Forth were in on the play and both had four fouls.

So when the scoreboard operator put number five up for Warrick, it was understandable for the fans to begin to taunt him.

‘I saw a couple of people pointing at me, saying, ‘Bye, bye,” Warrick said. ‘And I said, ‘It wasn’t on me, calm down.”

The operator switched the foul to Forth, who, as a result, had to leave the game instead.

Syracuse was stuck in foul trouble for most of the night. Forth ended the first half with three fouls, while Warrick and Edelin both had two at the time. Syracuse finished the game with 22 total fouls.

Rutgers made the Orange pay, connecting on nearly 93 percent of its free throws.

‘I was under the impression they were a bad foul-shooting team,’ Boeheim said. ‘I guess I was wrong again.’

Prior to the game, Syracuse had lost four of its past five games at The RAC, including a 68-65 loss during the Orange’s championship season in 2003. … Rutgers sold out its third game of the year last night, drawing a boisterous crowd of 8,071. … Last night’s game was a homecoming for both Terrence Roberts and Darryl Watkins. Both players were recruited by Rutgers after playing high school basketball in northern New Jersey. Each player had a large contingent of family sitting behind the SU bench.

Published on January 24, 2005 at 12:00 pm