A half-hour after the fact, even his dad was still searching for the answer.

How, with 26 seconds left and the Syracuse men’s basketball team down by one point, did Gerry McNamara get so wide open?

McNamara’s game-winning 3-pointer from the right corner gave the No. 17 Orangemen an 82-80 win over No. 10 Notre Dame on Saturday in the Carrier Dome. The win moved Syracuse into first place in the Big East West Division. SU has the best conference record in the league.

McNamara’s shot baffled the 32,116 fans — McNamara’s father, Gerry, among them.

Gerry approached SU point guard Billy Edelin in the locker room after the game, the question still on his lips: ‘Why’d they leave him so open?’

Edelin, wide-eyed, mustered the response he’d offered reporters earlier: The play was drawn up for forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored six of his 26 points in a 2:03 span of the second half to lead a 10-0 SU run that tied the game at 69.

‘We just went with what we were going with the last five or 10 plays,’ Edelin told Gerry.

Apparently satisfied, Gerry, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “McNamara’s Band,” offered the beaming Edelin a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Gerry brought a box of them from Scranton, Pa. — 52 busloads of hometown fans in tow.

‘I was surprised (that I was so wide open),’ said McNamara, a freshman guard. ‘But I’m not going to complain.’

‘On the last play, we were obviously going to go to Carmelo,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘They went with a zone (defense), and (Anthony) took the guy in the back of the zone to the basket. And Gerry’s standing there.’

After a Matt Carroll 3-pointer with 30 seconds left put Notre Dame up, 80-79, SU called timeout. As McNamara left the huddle, assistant coach Mike Hopkins grabbed his jersey and whispered into his ear.

‘If you get it,’ Hopkins said, ‘rip it.’

Edelin, positioned at the top of the key, looked for Anthony and dished a chest pass to McNamara for the game-winner, which fell with 20 seconds left.

The Orangemen almost let the victory slip away. After Anthony hit a layup with 1:31 left, SU led, 79-77. On the next Irish possession, Miller missed a 3, and Carroll fouled Edelin down the court. With a chance to seal the game, Edelin missed both free throws.

‘They both felt good,’ he said. ‘But they were both on the rim for so long and fell off.’

Twenty-eight seconds after the misses, Edelin found McNamara.

‘Money,’ Edelin thought as McNamara’s shot sailed through the air.

The Orangemen (17-4, 8-3 Big East) rode Anthony down the stretch, giving the ball to the freshman in the post. If Anthony failed to convert a layup, he drew a foul and went 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.

With the Fighting Irish shying away from double-teaming Anthony, his shots fell easier.

‘(Notre Dame head coach) Mike Brey made a statement that they had the best small forward (Dan Miller) in the Big East,’ Anthony said. ‘I had to prove him wrong.’

‘They didn’t have anybody who can match him sizewise,’ Edelin said. ‘If they tried to put one of their big guys on him, he would go right around him on the dribble.’

Early on, the Irish’s 3-point shooters dominated. Miller, Carroll and point guard Chris Thomas shot a combined 12 of 25 from 3-point range. Before McNamara’s 3, the Orangemen were 2 of 16. For the game, four Notre Dame (19-5, 7-3) players — Carroll (22 points), Torin Francis (17), Thomas (16) and Miller (14) — scored in double figures.

McNamara scored 17 for the Orangemen. Forward Hakim Warrick added 15, and Edelin had 11.

The Orangemen secured the win, in part, by taking care of the ball. SU had four turnovers, compared to Notre Dame’s 14. It was the fewest turnovers the Orangemen have committed since they had four in a 1986 Big East tournament game against St. John’s.

‘To have four turnovers,” Boeheim said, “is really unbelievable.”

Said Edelin: ‘When you think about it, Melo had a big second half, and they wanted to make somebody else beat us. And we had no problem doing that.’

Published on February 15, 2003 at 12:00 pm