No. 20 Syracuse blows out Georgetown in Big East fight

The sophomore center scored the first six points for Syracuse and surpassed his career high before the end of the first half. He had 17 points at the break, and finished with 23 as No. 20 Syracuse routed Georgetown 84-66 last night.

"It felt good to get started like that," said Thomas, who had been averaging 9.8 points per game. "They have confidence in me to score down low now."

Thomas was 8-for-11 from the field and defied his 53 percent free throw percentage by making 7 of 10 from the line. The Big East's leader in blocked shots, Thomas batted away six more as the Orangemen (16-4, 6-3 Big East) broke a two-game losing streak.

AP PHOTO Georgetown's Jameel Watkins and the Hoyas fought for this rebound with Syracuse's Ryan Blackwell in yesterday's game. The Hoyas didn't put up much of a fight in the game, however, as the 20th-ranked Orangemen cruised to an 84-66 victory.

"We've had two bad games in a row," said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, referring to losses to Notre Dame and Connecticut. "And then you come on the road here and we've got another road game (at Pittsburgh), so this was obviously a very, very, very big win for us."

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for Georgetown (11-7, 4-6), which is danger of finishing with a losing record in Big East play for just the second time in the John Thompson era.

"The best sound I heard all night was that final buzzer," Thompson said. "The best thing about that game was that it was over."

No. 13 South Carolina 79 Furman 52

Herbert Lee Davis thinks things are starting to fall like last year for No. 13 South Carolina, especially from 3-point range.

"We have guys who can shoot the 3, but it was shocking to me that we hadn't been doing it," said Davis, who hit three of South Carolina's season-high 11 long-distance shots in a 79-52 victory over Furman last night. "Last year, we did it all the time. We got used to it."

South Carolina's BJ McKie scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half, when the Gamecocks made nine threes and led 44-20.

Even South Carolina's sloppy play in the second half - the Gamecocks didn't score for more than five minutes after the break - did not help the Paladins (7-13), who were held to their second-lowest scoring total this season.

The Gamecocks hadn't been up to Furman to renew the state's oldest rivalry since 1982. They have won nine straight in the series by an average of 21 points.

No. 11 Princeton 59, New Jersey 50

Princeton coach Bill Carmody wasn't ready to grant College of New Jersey a rematch next season at Trenton.

"I'm like Rocky, don't want one," Carmody quipped last night after his 11th-ranked Tigers beat the Lions, a Division III team, 59-50 in their first game after a 16-day layoff.

Brian Earl scored 16 points, including five in an 8-0 run to start the second half, as Princeton (14-1) looked rusty following the lengthy exam break.

"We're going to lose to every team in the Ivy League if we play like this," Carmody said. "They were tough, they came in here and wanted this game more than we did. They looked like the Division I players physically and we looked like little boys."

Princeton annually schedules a Division III opponent as a warmup before returning to Ivy League play. It was the first time the Tigers played nearby New Jersey (14-2), which is ranked No. 5 in the Division III coaches' poll.

While the loss could hurt Princeton's ranking, the players were more concerned about their poor performance.

"We've developed a level of pride with this program in the way we play," guard Mitch Henderson, who termed the effort Princeton's worst of the year, said. "That's what we're concerned with, and tonight was just awful."

Trailing by nine at halftime, the Lions missed their first nine shots after intermission. The 8-0 run at the start of the second half gave Princeton a 41-24 lead. An 11-2 burst pulled New Jersey within 43-35 with 8:30 left, but Princeton scored five straight and 12 of the next 14 to open a 55-37 lead with 2:33 remaining.

01-27-98