SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Gerry McNamara’s parents, Gerry and Joyce, sat behind the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s bench last night, as they have for every game this season.

The McNamaras have driven from their home in Scranton, Pa., to every game except for the No. 12 Orangemen’s contest at Miami (they flew).

Yesterday afternoon, McNamara, who rooted for Notre Dame during his childhood and even considered playing for the Fighting Irish, toured the gift shop at the College Football Hall of Fame, located in downtown South Bend, with his parents. In his first game at No. 16 Notre Dame, a 92-88 SU win, McNamara scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

‘We just wanted to get a chance to see Gerry,’ McNamara’s father said of the Hall of Fame visit. ‘We hardly even get to see him on road trips.’

SU center Craig Forth’s father, Murray, also made the trip. Murray said he’s been to every Syracuse game for the last two years.

‘(The McNamaras are) one year behind catching me,’ Murray said with a laugh as he strolled toward the SU locker room after last night’s game.

A new mark

With five points last night, SU guard Kueth Duany now has 1,003 for his career. Duany, a fifth-year senior, is the 45th Orangeman to pass the 1,000-point mark.

Duany eclipsed the mark on a 17-foot jumper from the right corner with 9:08 left in the game. His shot put the Orangemen up, 69-61.

Duany has 305 points this season. He had 440 last year, 188 as a sophomore and 70 as a freshman. Duany averaged 12.2 points last season and averages 11.7 this year.

Before Duany, guard DeShaun Williams was the last SU player to score 1,000 points. Williams did it last year, his junior season, but he later left Syracuse and now attends Iona, a MAAC school in New Rochelle.

Poll call

On Monday, The Orangemen jumped from No. 15 to No. 12 in the Associated Press poll. They also leaped from No. 15 to No. 12 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll.

Syracuse first cracked the AP Top 25 on Jan. 13, when it debuted at No. 25. Last year, SU climbed as high as No. 8.

SU is 4-2 against ranked opponents this season. The Orangemen beat No. 11 Missouri, No. 2 Pittsburgh and lost to then-No. 3 Pitt and No. 23 Connecticut. The Orangemen beat Notre Dame twice: when the Irish were No. 10 and again, last night, as the No. 16 team.

Midwestern sports heaven

The College Football Hall of Fame houses memorabilia such as the jersey and helmet worn by former Syracuse linebacker Tim Green and Alabama head coach Bear Bryant’s hat. There are two exhibits dedicated to electronic football.

How sports-crazed is Notre Dame? Well, in addition to the Irish sports memorabilia that lines the Joyce Center’s walls, the food court at the school’s LaFortune Student Center features a bevy of poster-sized, framed Notre Dame football photos and two autographed poster-sized shots of former basketball players Ruth Riley and Troy Murphy.

Though Notre Dame has 26 varsity sports, even intramurals are big in South Bend. The main sports story Monday in The Observer — Notre Dame’s student newspaper — was a recap of Bengal Bouts, the school’s intramural boxing tournament.

This and that

Knights Inn, a rundown, $40-a-night motel a half-mile from the Notre Dame campus, already has its weekend prices advertised for the 2003 football season. Rooms, which include 5-foot-high showerheads, start at $199 a night. … Flags outside Notre Dame Stadium flew at half-staff yesterday, in memory of George Kelly, a former assistant athletics director and assistant football coach who died Monday night. The Joyce Center observed a pregame moment of silence for Kelly. … SU guard Josh Pace played three minutes last night. McNamara left with 17:50 remaining in the game to get a cut on his left index finger taped, and Pace hopped on the court. … Notre Dame honored seniors Matt Carroll, Jere Macura, Dan Miller and Dan Lustig before the game. … Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick had a career-high seven assists. He topped his previous career high (four) in the first half. … Carroll’s eight 3-pointers tied a Notre Dame school record set by Keith Friel against SU on Jan. 21, 1998.

Published on March 4, 2003 at 12:00 pm