WORCESTER, Mass. – It was an emotional finish, one which Syracuse and Vermont players alike didn’t know how to cope with.

Syracuse senior Hakim Warrick simply couldn’t deal. On his way off the court he sat on the Syracuse bench and covered his head.

With a minute left and a four-point lead, Vermont head coach Tom Brennan peered into the rafters, let out a yell and pumped his fists toward the heavens.

Whatever the reaction, the numbers on the scoreboard at the end of the game didn’t lie about the result – a 60-57 overtime victory for the No. 13 Vermont Catamounts over the No. 4 Syracuse Orange in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the DCU Centrum in front of 13,009.

‘I don’t even know what to feel right now,’ said UVM guard T.J. Sorrentine. ‘It’s an unbelievable feeling. I just can’t describe it.’

The reason for the numbness – the conundrum of too much feeling and none at all – was the America East conference’s first NCAA Tournament win since 1996. The No. 13 seed’s upset of Big East champion Syracuse had more swings than a grade school playground.

Watch the overtime period alone and you can capture the emotion in this game. With 1:28 remaining and a one-point lead for Vermont, Sorrentine did the unthinkable. He waved off Brennan’s play calls – assuring him he had control of the game – allowed the shot clock to run down to four seconds and then nailed a 3-pointer from a few feet outside the key.

Taken by surprise, Gerry McNamara didn’t even have time to think of defending Sorrentine.

‘We put ourselves in that position,’ said SU head coach Jim Boeheim.

‘When that shot went in, I thought I might burst,’ Brennan said. ‘I thought you might find me in pieces around the arena because there’s no drug, nothing in the world that is that feeling. There’s nothing that can make you feel like that except competition and going through a lot with your guys, especially ones you love.’

It was a dagger in the hearts of the Orange, one that caused Boeheim to sit and contemplate what had just occurred.

Though the game ended in disappointment for Syracuse, the Orange kept it close all along. But the Orange did not look like the team that won the Big East tournament. Though Warrick finished with 21 points, Vermont restricted him from getting the easy points he’d grown accustomed to

Whatever shots Gerry McNamara found were poor ones, too. The junior shot 1 for 7 from the 3-point line and 4 for 18 overall.

The Catamounts pressured the ball heavily and created eight Syracuse turnovers in the first 14 minutes of the game.

Though undersized, Vermont was opportunistic on the offensive glass, grabbing seven offensive rebounds in the first half. Score or not, the Catamounts made sure to cycle the ball on every offensive possession. A simple philosophy of when they had the ball, the Orange couldn’t score.

While the game was a slow stalemate in the first half, for the Catamounts, it was just a matter of getting their shots to fall in the second. After shooting 1 for 9 in the first half from the 3-point line, Vermont scored 10 points in the first 4:30 of the second half, giving the Catamounts a three-point lead.

‘They’re good,’ McNamara said of the lower-seeded Catamounts. ‘We knew that coming in.’

Still, the Orange played right into Vermont’s style of play. Vermont continued to waste time on every offensive possession, content holding three-and four-point leads at the risk of letting the scoring open up.

With 8:59 remaining, on a play that could’ve sparked an Orange run, Terrence Roberts dunked SU to within three but was whistled for a technical foul after he slapped the backboard. Sorrentine made the two ensuing free throws, giving UVM a five-point lead.

It wasn’t until Syracuse applied a full-court press with 8:04 left that the Orange made things interesting.

SU took a two-point lead with 1:12 remaining in regulation. But a Taylor Coppenrath jumper with 53 seconds left sent the game to overtime.

From there, neither team pulled away. Vermont continued to use as much of the shot clock as it could, sealing the win with Sorrentine’s bomb from beyond the arc.

On SU’s next possession, McNamara lost the ball as he dribbled over halfcourt for a backcourt violation. Vermont’s Martin Klimes was fouled and hit one of two free throws, putting UVM up for good, 60-57.

McNamara got one last shot – an off-balance 3-pointer – but it missed. The large Vermont contingent in the crowd chanted U-V-M! U-V-M! And the Orange sulked off the court in disbelief.

‘I feel empathy for those guys,’ Brennan said of Syracuse. ‘We held the ball and we didn’t shoot. They were out of sync with the defenses we were giving them.’

The win marked the end of a season and the end of a career for three SU seniors – Warrick, Josh Pace and Craig Forth.

‘It’s always difficult to lose in the tournament any time,’ Boeheim said. ‘These guys had tremendous careers, they’re great kids.’

Published on March 21, 2005 at 12:00 pm