EAST REGIONAL AT CHAPEL HILL, N.C. : Little Rhode Island Teaches Big East, Syracuse a Lesson

Rhode Island is emerging from years of playing in the shadow of its more well-known Big East Conference neighbors.

Saturday, the Rams defeated Big East tournament champion Syracuse, 97-94, in a second-round game of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament’s East Regional.

Tom Garrick Jr. scored 26 points and Kenny Green had 16 of his 23 points in the second half as Rhode Island, in its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1978, advanced to the regional semifinals, where it will meet Duke.

Garrick’s father, Tom Sr., who is blind, was in the crowd at the Dean Smith Center for the game and was kept abreast of the action through descriptions by his daughter, Stacy, and his son, John.

“I was elated about beating a Big East team,” Tom Jr. said. “I was looking at my dad and my brother and having a little fun out there.”

The Rams (28-6), of the Atlantic 10 conference, not only knocked the Orangemen out of the tournament but also silenced them.

“They were talking (during the game) most about playing some weak Atlantic 10 team,” said Rhode Island guard Carlton Owens. “I just returned and said, ‘That was an Atlantic 10 dunk Kenny (Green) just did.’ ”

Owens, who added 18 points for the Rams, said: “We had to prove that we were a great ballclub and that we’re from a great conference, and I think we did that.”

After losing an early 15-point advantage, Rhode Island regained control late in the second half by changing tactics and going inside, getting the Orangemen in foul trouble.

“We made a decision midway though the second half that we had to isolate Kenny inside and try and draw some fouls,” Rhode Island Coach Tom Penders said. “ . . . It was a move we had to make. We were losing momentum, and we felt we would eventually have to get them in foul trouble.”

Syracuse forward Derrick Coleman picked up his fourth foul with 10:33 left. Center Rony Seikaly got his fourth with 7:31 remaining. Coleman fouled out with 5:32 left, and forward Stevie Thompson picked up his fourth with 4:15 to play, leaving Syracuse unable to maintain its comeback early in the second half.

“It’s difficult to play defense when you don’t know how it’s going to be called,” Seikaly said. “We tried to play physical, and we got our whole front line in foul trouble.”

With the score tied at 85 and 4:39 to play, Rhode Island outscored the Orangemen, 7-0, over the next 2:23.

The Rams held Syracuse to one point over a 3:30 span before Sherman Douglas made a layup with 1:09 remaining.

After a three-pointer by Earl Duncan got Syracuse within 95-91 with 43 seconds to play, the Rams broke a full-court press and played four-corners until Green was free for a dunk with 25 seconds left.

Syracuse got another three-pointer from Matt Roe with 14 seconds to play. Garrick missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving the Orangemen one last chance, but Duncan’s three-point try hit the rim and bounded away at the buzzer.

“We dug ourselves a big hole early,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “We came back two or three times, and we had a shot at it. We just couldn’t get over the hump. . . . I thought Green was the key to the game.”

Green, a 6-foot-8 sophomore playing against the bigger Seikaly and Coleman, methodically picked up foul after foul on the Syracuse big men.

“We did not do a good job on the inside defensively,” Boeheim said. “We knew their guards were going to get 40, but inside it was Green, (John) Evans, and (Bonzie) Colson who killed us.”

Syracuse, which lost to Indiana in the final last year, was led by Seikaly’s 27 points. Thompson added 18 and Coleman 16 for the Orangemen, who finished the season with a 26-9 mark.

Syracuse made 21 of 31 shots (67%), mostly from inside, in the first half. Rhode Island shot 56.8% in the opening 20 minutes, including 7 of 10 from three-point range. The Rams committed only four turnovers.

Duke 94, SMU 79--When Danny Ferry couldn’t find the range, Kevin Strickland had the touch to lead Duke into the semifinals.

Strickland scored a career-high 31 points, and Robert Brickey had 17 as Duke (26-6) raced away from SMU in the first half and held off a second-half charge.

Ferry hit 2 of 11 field goals in the first half while his teammates made 17 of 23 to build a halftime lead the Mustangs couldn’t overcome. It gave Duke its third victory in the Smith Center, home of archrival North Carolina.

“I felt like if I kept looking for my shot and worked without the ball, I felt I could get good shots,” Strickland said. “It was just up to me to make it.”

Strickland said playing with someone of Ferry’s caliber “definitely makes your job a lot easier.”