Seconds after an earth-shaking slam that ended with Syracuse men’s basketball forward Hakim Warrick hanging on the rim, his leg resting on Randall Hanke’s back, Warrick greeted the Providence freshman at mid-court.

Hanke had spent the majority of the second half slashing through SU’s zone on offense and slapping Orange shots to the side defensively.

Warrick, celebrating his Senior Day, had a message for him.

‘Try and block that one,’ he said.

At the close of Warrick’s last Carrier Dome appearance, neither Hanke – nor any of his other Providence teammates – found a way to block, or simply stop Warrick. The 6-foot-8 senior notched yet another career high, finishing with 36 points and six rebounds in SU’s 91-66 win over Providence on Saturday afternoon in front of 32,804.

In a day that seemed to come right out of a sappy movie, Warrick, Josh Pace, Craig Forth and Xzavier Gaines bid adieu to Syracuse, SU head coach Jim Boeheim secured his 700th career win and the eighth-largest crowd in Dome history saw it all.

‘I couldn’t ask for a better ending to my career here in the Carrier Dome,’ Warrick said.

The No. 15 Orange (24-5, 11-4 Big East) turned a four-point halftime lead into a dominating 25-point victory. Syracuse outscored PC 51-30 in the second half, mostly because Providence (12-16, 2-12) had no answer for Warrick.

In the first six minutes of the second half, Warrick had four dunks. It resulted in Warrick’s second straight 30-point effort. In Wednesday’s 83-69 win over St. John’s, Warrick scored 35, but a late second-half 3-point play on Saturday gave him 36.

The dominating efforts follow back-to-back 12-point games – both coming in SU losses.

Since those games, Warrick has made an effort to move more without the ball and gain better low-post position. He’s also turned an early-season weakness – free-throw shooting – into a strength. Warrick hit 12 of 13 Saturday after finishing 15-for-19 Wednesday.

‘When he decides to score, he scores,’ said SU guard Gerry McNamara. ‘When he fades away, that’s when he gets in trouble. But when he decides ‘this is my game and I’m going to score,’ you pretty much can’t do anything.’

Emotional before the game – teammates hoped he’d cry – Warrick started quickly by turning to his jump shot. He hit two jumpers early, the first a turnaround from the free-throw line, giving the Orange a 6-2 lead.

Propelled by his shooting, his dominating inside game took over, mostly by the way of dunks. Boeheim called it the best individual Senior Day performance he’d seen.

‘He did miss that one free throw,’ Boeheim joked.

Warrick received help from his fellow seniors. After a shaky start, Pace finished with 11 points, nine boards and five assists, typical of his entire SU career. In one 30-second stretch early in the first half, Pace air balled a free throw and missed an open dunk.

Pace’s slashing through the lane quickly erased memories of the ugly start.

After a slow start, Forth came alive too, finishing with six points. He even connected on a perfect fast-break alley-oop from McNamara with 4:57 remaining.

‘You always want to dunk in your last game,’ Forth said.

Most of the dunking was left to Warrick. It came as a perfect ending to a dominant senior season – a season that Warrick nearly spent in the NBA. His decision to stay at Syracuse for his senior year came at the last minute and Warrick said it was 50/50 a week before he announced he’d stay.

At the end, each senior left to a standing ovation. First Pace, then Warrick and finally Forth. Boeheim, seconds away from his 700th win, greeted each with a hug. Almost simultaneously, the crowd held up orange 700-win signs. It seemed like a perfect ending – one that the Orange hopes to soon top.

‘They’re great guys,’ Forth said. ‘Josh can pretty much play any position, Hak is just a scoring machine and I fit in where I can. This has been a great run with these guys. It’s been a lot of fun.’

Published on February 27, 2005 at 12:00 pm