Related: Freshman Jardine has career day in 3rd start

Dec. 30 5:31 p.m. — Paul Harris smiled a bit on Sunday as reporters crowded around him in the Syracuse men’s basketball locker room and asked about his 15-rebound outburst in a 95-74 win against Northeastern.

He had showered and long since removed the plug from his left nostril, to stop a nose bleed after a collision in the first half, and seemed happy with his performance.

Hopefully it was enough for his relatives too. He’d been hearing from them lately.

‘I got a couple text messages from my family telling me like ‘What happened to the guy who used to get 10, 11 rebounds?’

‘You know, I’ve been getting five and seven,’ said Harris, who had actually pulled down seven and seven in the past two games against Colgate and Cornell. ‘So I just went out there and tried to grab everyone. And I got a lot of them.’

Those rebounds, along with 19 points, 7 assists and a serious inside presence, helped lead the Orange (10-3) over the Huskies (4-7) in front of 20,633 at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse closed out its non-conference schedule with four consecutive victories since a 91-89 loss to Rhode Island on Dec. 8. SU opens its Big East slate at home against St. John’s on Wednesday.

The Orange won by being aggressive inside, a place where they will try to make their living from here on out, as they deal with the loss of junior guard Eric Devendorf and his outside shot.

But physical play near the basket suits Harris fine.

‘That makes the game more intense, it makes me what to play harder,’ he said. ‘I like the contact.’

With Northeastern running a triangle-and-two defense designed to shut down Syracuse freshmen Donte Greene and Jonny Flynn on the outside, the Orange began forcing the ball inside to produce points.

Once it got into the Huskies interior, Syracuse encountered little resistance, scoring 19 of its first 20 field goals from inside the paint and continuously attacking the basket. It shot 25-for-38 from the free-throw line, with Harris going 9-of-13.

Syracuse’s 57 percent field goal shooting told even more of the story – the high number accumulated by pounding the ball inside for layups by Harris, Arinze Onuaku and Jardine, and Flynn attacking for short jumpers and fast-break points.

Yet Syracuse’s physicality didn’t translate to a big lead early on, as the Orange led just 44-42 at the half. Matt Janning, the Huskies top scoring threat who came in averaging 16.2 points per game, had 15 at the break (his final total of 26 led all scorers), enough to get Boeheim’s attention.

The team switched from a 2-3 zone to man-to-man defense late in the first half, and in the second, Boeheim put freshman guard Scoop Jardine on Janning.

‘Second half, Coach told me not to let (Janning) really get his shots,’ said Jardine, making just his third start since Devendorf’s torn ACL ended his season on Dec. 15. ‘So I just tried to deny him … and Jonny did a great job as the point guard, so that got us going.’

The Orange stormed out to a 22-7 run to take control in the second half, as Harris and Jardine, who scored a career-high 18, led the way.

And Greene – though shackled early – came on late, draining a trio of three point shots and throwing down a forceful two-handed slam dunk in the second half as the Orange pulled away. He finished with 17.

The game, which had been so evenly contested in the first half, was in essence over by the midway point of the second frame. In the game’s final minutes, the lead was comfortable enough for Boeheim to use a lineup of Justin Thomas, Kristof Ongenaet, Sean Williams, Jake Presutti and wide receiver-turned-guard Mike Williams.

‘I’m shocked that we’ve been as efficient offensively as we’ve been,’ Boeheim said. ‘I’m very happy with it. But it’s shocking that we’re able to play at the offensive level that we’ve played at this year.’

Afterward, Boeheim still expressed concern over the team’s defense and first half play. It’s a learning process, he said, one not easy for any team to pick up, especially one like the Orange, which started three freshman.

‘Defense is always harder for young guys,’ he said. ‘They’ve always played offense, but they’ve never played defense till the get to college.’

Now, with Devendorf gone for the season and the team headed into Big East, Harris finds himself coming more and more into a leadership role.

‘I feel I’ve played in more games than anybody on the team and I’m one of the older players on the team,’ Harris said. ‘But these young guys they still are good too.’

Published on January 1, 2008 at 12:00 pm