BOSTON (AP) – Never count out Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse’s other freshmen.
And don’t write off the Big East, either. The conference moved to 8-0 in the NCAA tournament when Syracuse overcame a disastrous start and beat Oklahoma State 68-56 Sunday in the East Regional.
Syracuse (26-5) will be joined by three other teams from the Big East. The conference received only four bids to the NCAA, which excluded one of its division winners, Boston College.
Third-seeded Syracuse’s chances of moving on seemed bleak as No. 6 Oklahoma State (22-10) rushed to a 14-2 lead, running after nearly every miss by the Orangemen. But they trailed only 31-25 after scoring the last seven points of the half.
Syracuse came back even though Anthony and Gerry McNamara, the nation’s highest scoring freshman duo, each missed all six of their shots in the half.
But McNamara finished with 14 points, despite missing nearly six minutes to have a wound bandaged above his nose. And Anthony, perhaps the nation’s top freshman, had 13 points.
Freshman Billy Edelin, who is sometimes overlooked, had two outstanding halves – scoring 12 points in the first and eight in the second for a game-high 20.
The Cowboys were led by Ivan McFarlin with 14 points and Victor Williams, whose 13 points were far below
his career-high 29 points in a first-round win over Pennsylvania.
Oklahoma State, which was 18-1 when leading at halftime, got off to a strong start, taking advantage of Syracuse’s misses and turnovers.
But the spurt by the Orangemen late in the first half shifted the momentum, and that carried over into the second half. Syracuse outscored the Cowboys 66-42 after trailing 14-2.
The Orangemen took their first lead of the second half on a 3-pointer by McNamara that made it 40-39 with 14:24 left.
Oklahoma State went up 43-40 before Hakim Warrick hit two free throws. Then Anthony put the Orangemen ahead for good with a 3-pointer.
He followed that with a layup that made it 47-43 by the time McNamara re-entered the game with 8:36 left.
Just six seconds later, McNamara hit one of his four 3-pointers for a 50-43 lead. Then he hit two more, stretching the lead to 59-50 with 4:02 remaining and 64-52 with 1:56 to go.
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