Syracuse’s McCorkle Finds a Comfort Zone : Basketball: Ex-Capistrano Valley standout, slowed by injuries, now at ease with Orangemen and his dad.

This was a special basketball game for Scott McCorkle, a bright moment in what had been a star-crossed career at Syracuse. All the injuries, the time on the bench and the frustration seemed to fade away.

He was having a superb game against Pittsburgh last month--hitting jumpers, diving for loose balls and banging inside. It would be a 13-point, six-rebound night, with a couple of blocked shots.

On the sideline and, over the air, ESPN analyst Dick Vitale was straining those overzealous vocal chords every time McCorkle did something. “It may be freezing outside, but he’s on fire . . . “

But that wasn’t why McCorkle’s emotions soared to the top of the Carrier Dome that night.

Most of that game is a blank to McCorkle. What comes to mind was his father, who was in the stands.

“I picked him out before the game,” McCorkle said. “Every time I did something, I looked up in the stands. He was clapping, smiling, just having a really good time.”

It was the first time Ray Lundeen, McCorkle’s father, had seen his son play at Syracuse. McCorkle would score a basket, then point to him.

“Having him there, seeing his approval, meant so much to me,” McCorkle said.

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McCorkle, a 6-foot-5 senior forward, has tried to cram four years of basketball into one season. Injuries, almost too numerous to recall, had slowed him throughout his career, so this was his last chance.

This season has gone well. There was that broken nose during practice in November, but that was minor. McCorkle has found his niche with the Orangemen. He is averaging 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds as a reserve.

Those are hardly the type of numbers that made him a two-time All-Orange County selection at Capistrano Valley High School, but he is comfortable with his role. What he wasn’t comfortable with was his relationship with his father.

McCorkle’s parents divorced when he was 6, and his mother remarried. McCorkle had a good relationship with his stepfather, Doug McCorkle. Their family was typical of many in Mission Viejo.

McCorkle would visit his father, who lives in Seattle, during the summer, and Lundeen made it to California for a few of his son’s high school games. But McCorkle always sensed some tension.

“I think he was always a little embarrassed that I didn’t have his last name,” McCorkle said. “My mom had enrolled me as ‘McCorkle,’ when I started school. I think my father was a little disheartened about that.”

Valarie McCorkle, his mother, said that, with six kids in the family, it was easier socially to use one last name.

“There were things I don’t want to talk about, family issues,” Lundeen said. “The name was part of it. But part of it was I didn’t have a opportunity to get down there.”

A gap existed, according to McCorkle, until this year.

McCorkle re-established their relationship as a freshman. He began writing letters, at his grandmother’s urging, which opened the lines of communication. Lundeen, who works in marketing, occasionally visited his son at Syracuse while on business trips to New York. But he had never seen him play, except on television.

“Every year, I would invite him to a game,” McCorkle. “The beginning of each season, I’d send him a schedule. But he was always busy.”

This year, Lundeen made the time. He spent five days in Syracuse and went to two games.

“We had some great long talks,” Lundeen said. “It was the first time we’d been able to sit down like that in years. We were buddies.”

Said McCorkle: “We had a lot of catching up to do, even why I went by McCorkle instead of Lundeen. I think he understands that now. Basically, I was able to tell him what I’ve been through.”

That must have taken some time.

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McCorkle has suffered through one setback after another. He has had a broken thumb, a bruised back, the broken nose and assorted cuts that required stitches. He also suffered through a bout of pneumonia as a freshman.

It is hardly the list of accomplishments McCorkle had hoped to have by his senior season.

McCorkle saw some quality time as a freshman. He had two big games against Connecticut, scoring 13 and 12 points. He also hurt his back in one game and needed stitches to sew up a gash caused by an opponent’s teeth.

But those things just seemed to happen to McCorkle.

“I think I was on a first-name basis with the people who worked in the emergency room when Scott was growing up,” Valarie McCorkle said. “He had a lot of stitches over the years, but nothing serious.”

It got serious when McCorkle was a sophomore. He was about to score on a break-away against Lafayette when he was tackled from behind and suffered a broken thumb.

“I sat and watched my thumb grow right there,” McCorkle said.

Said Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim: “It was a criminal-type play. Just criminal.”

McCorkle missed four weeks. By the time he returned, freshman Lawrence Moten had established himself at small forward. Moten was named rookie of the year in the Big East Conference.

Things didn’t go much better for McCorkle the following season. A series of injuries limited his playing time.

“Scott’s been hurt a lot,” Boeheim said. “He’s just a physical player, and he’s not very bashful about it.”

Said McCorkle: “The guys tease me a lot about all the injuries. When I get hurt, they’d ask me if I was going around looking for accidents. It’s kind of my trademark. This year, I was going to stay healthy. This year, I was going to get playing time.”

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McCorkle has gotten the time and made the most of it.

He scored a career-high 18 points against Villanova. He has scored in double figures in eight games.

But it’s the Pittsburgh game that stays with him. He said it was the most fun he’d had in game since high school.

At one point, after scoring on a rebound and then forcing a turnover, McCorkle ran toward Vitale on the sideline and shouted, “Oh, baby, give me the ball.”

Said Vitale: “He’s got the three E’s. He’s exciting, he has energy and he has enthusiasm . . . don’t worry Scotty, we’re giving you some PR.”

But McCorkle didn’t need the publicity. He had his audience in the stands.

“He made a jumper from the side, then circled up court and pointed at me,” Lundeen said. “The people around me picked up on that. They asked me, ‘Do you know him?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s my son.’ ”