Syracuse's Dion Waiters had just finished a fast break with an emphatic righthanded dunk over his head. As he retreated to defend, he raised his hands to exhort the crowd and it roared its approval. There were still more than nine minutes left in the second-ranked Orange's Big East tilt against St. John's and all its players were basking in the moment.



It was the instant when a rough day for the Red Storm got punctuated with an insult. Syracuse felt and acted like it was playing a home game as it overpowered the Johnnies, 95-70, Saturday before a sellout crowd of 19,979 at the Garden on St. John's home floor.



"I don't want those things to happen," Storm freshman guard Phil Greene said, "breakaway dunks and then things like that."



St. John's is surely headed for days when it will be the ones basking in the limelight at the Garden. That'll happen when this young team comes into full bloom and wins — as we saw a year ago. And given the burgeoning talent, it should. But as well as the Johnnies have played lately, Syracuse showed why it stands among the nation's elite and owned the day.



The Orange (23-1, 10-1 Big East) was bigger at every spot on the floor and used it to turn 16 offensive rebounds into 24 points. It's also much more experienced than St. John's (10-13, 4-7) as proved by how well the Syracuse players moved the ball en route to 23 assists on the 27 baskets that didn't come off the backboards.



"One thing we really did well was pass the basketball. We just got really good shots every time down the court," said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, whose 879th career win tied him for third on the all-time list with Dean Smith. "That was the best part for me. . . . how easily we found people for good shots."



St. John's is now is 0-9 against nationally ranked opponents this season, including No. 1 Kentucky, the Orange and No. 7 Duke. Storm freshman Moe Harkless said of Syracuse "They're really good. They might have been the best team we played this year."



Boeheim returned some of the admiration, saying: "I don't know how you can do what they've done with five freshmen. It's extraordinary to have played the way they have — the win at Cincinnati, the comeback at Duke and they beat West Virginia. . . . They looked young at times today when we hit some big shots. Freshmen aren't used to seeing those things."



D'Angelo Harrison had 23 points — his eighth 20-point game — to go with five assists and Harkless had 15 points and eight rebounds to pace the Johnnies. Phil Greene matched his career-high for the second straight game with 14 points.



Syracuse 7-footer Fab Melo, back from a three-game academic suspension, had a career-high 14 points and Waiters and C.J. Fair each scored 14 as well.



St. John's matched Syracuse early and was within 12-11 eight minutes in. Syracuse scored 18 of the next 24 points and took a 41-27 lead to halftime and broke it open with a 16-3 run to start the second half. After Syracuse went up 59-31 on a Melo tip-in with 13:43 to play, the Johnnies never got the margin below 20 — at 66-46 after one of of Harrison's five 3-pointers. Moments later, Queens product James Southerland made a steal and found Waiters for the dunk that ignited the Orange's Garden party.



"We'll see Syracuse again down the road and Syracuse exposed us," said assistant coach Mike Dunlap, again filling in for recuperating Steve Lavin, who attended the game. "But long-term they've helped us by showing us our weaknesses."



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