Josh Wright faked at the top of the key, fancily penetrated into the Pirates’ defense and saw a wide-open lay-up in front of him.

A successful shot would cut Seton Hall’s lead to two with 17 seconds remaining and revive Syracuse’s hopes for a comeback. But the sophomore guard missed badly, and the ball fell into the hands of a Pirates’ rebounder.

‘Easy opportunities you’re supposed to take advantage of,’ Wright said. ‘We just didn’t.’

A deflated crowd of 26,737 hushed in disbelief as the game wound down toward the fourth-straight Orange loss, this time a shocking 68-61 defeat at the hands of opportunistic Seton Hall.

No. 25 SU (15-6, 3-4 Big East) missed eight lay-ups in the contest – more a testament to how much the Orange has struggled on offense than to SHU’s defense. Syracuse finished the game shooting 38.5 percent from the field and an even worse 18.5 percent behind the 3-point arc.

The Orange’s miscues often came at the most inopportune times. Holding a four-point halftime lead, SHU (12-6, 3-3 Big East) went on a 6-2 run thanks to Jamar Nutter’s back-to-back 3-pointers. Center Darryl Watkins then followed with his second missed dunk of the game, and SU never saw the lead again. Watkins’ missed opportunity eventually turned into Seton Hall points.

‘We just can’t miss lay-ups,’ Boeheim said. ‘We missed eight lay-ups (Sunday) … We had control of the game, and you just can’t miss that many lay-ups and it’s unfortunate.’

Syracuse’s three-game losing streak entering yesterday’s contest surely had an effect on the Orange. SU tightened up when it had a good shot, almost like it was playing not to lose a fourth straight game. That mindset resulted in bad misses and an all-around sloppy game. Syracuse had 17 turnovers to Seton Hall’s 24.

‘(The losing streak) should be (on our minds),’ Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara said. ‘It was playing on my mind. If it wasn’t, there’s something wrong. You’re not competitive. We’re so much better than we’re playing. It’s just frustrating.’

McNamara led Syracuse in scoring with 15 points, but the performance didn’t come without his struggles. He attempted 17 shots and made only five. The senior turned the ball over five times.

The cold shooting bookended a poor showing for the Orange. Seton Hall started the game on an 8-0 run and finished the game on a 9-2 run. The late rash of futile shooting, including Wright’s missed lay-up and two missed 3’s by McNamara, killed the hopes of a Syracuse team that tied the game at 59 with 2:16 left. Seton Hall proved to be the team that stepped up offensively with the game on the line. Donald Copeland and Nutter broke the tie with two straight 3-pointers that extended the lead to an insurmountable six points.

‘We’re going to miss some jump shots,’ Boeheim said. ‘We had a lot of good looks … Our offense has got to be better. Our defense did a pretty good job. We got good looks, and we’ve got to make them.’

Published on January 29, 2006 at 12:00 pm