ALBANY — On Friday night, Oklahoma assistant coaches Bennie Seltzer and Jim Shaw thought they’d found a hole in the Syracuse men’s basketball team’s 2-3 zone defense.

As the coaches scouted the Orangemen’s Sweet 16 game against Auburn, Seltzer scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad, circling what he thought was a weak part of the defense.

Yesterday, the Sooners found few holes. Syracuse’s defense stayed active, holding Hollis Price, Oklahoma’s leading scorer, to eight points as the No. 3-seeded Orangemen beat the No. 1 Sooners, 63-47, in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight before 15,207 at the Pepsi Arena.

Syracuse advanced to the Final Four for the fourth time. It will play Texas in the Superdome in New Orleans on Saturday.

‘Our defense was the difference,’ SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘We were very active on the defensive end. It’s probably the best we’ve played defensively all year. We did a good job of making them shoot tough shots.’

Indeed, the Sooners (27-7) shot 31 percent, with Price going 3 of 17, including 2 of 11 from 3-point range. Oklahoma’s 47 points are the fewest SU (28-5) has allowed all year. The Sooners tallied 20 points in the first half and failed to score in the second half until Price hit a 3 with 14:59 left.

‘We knew their offense goes through Hollis Price,’ SU forward Carmelo Anthony said. ‘He’s the driver of their car. Once we took him away, everything just broke down.’

Said SU guard Kueth Duany: ‘It seemed like they were trying to be real patient. I think they were over-patient, and it took them out of their rhythm. It just hurt their offense when they tried to wait too long to go.’

Several times, Oklahoma waited until fewer than 10 seconds remained on the shot clock before it tried to drive to the hoop.

SU’s defense proved pesky enough to force 19 turnovers. The Sooners turned the ball over on three straight first-half possessions, allowing the Orangemen to stretch their lead to 10-3. Syracuse led by as many as 18 points in the second half.

Forward De’Angelo Alexander led the Sooners with 14 points, on 5-of-9 shooting.

Anthony had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Orangemen, and forward Hakim Warrick scored 13.

As the clock ticked down and the Orangemen’s victory drew closer, Anthony pointed toward the stands, where his mother, Mary, and advisor, Troy Frazier, sat. Chants of ‘Final Four!’ erupted from the SU student section. When Anthony was announced as the East Regional’s Most Outstanding Player, the pro-Syracuse crowd chanted ‘One More Year!’

The chants continued when Anthony cut down the net, which he wore over his backward hat in a postgame press conference.

‘That’s my boy,’ a beaming Mary said.

One section over, Boeheim’s wife, Juli, cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled to her husband: ‘I love you.’ As Boeheim held his son, James III, a broad smile crossed his face.

The joy struck Boeheim’s assistants, too. Stoic associate head coach Bernie Fine, Boeheim’s 27-year right-hand man, wept as the buzzer sounded. Assistant Mike Hopkins carried his son, Michael Griffith Jr., and whispered, ‘We’re champions, buddy,’ into his tot’s ear.

Later, the Orangemen reflected on the win, which they counted as one more step in proving their critics wrong.

‘It’s a great feeling being here as everybody thought we were gonna be a bad team this year,’ guard Josh Pace said. ‘Throughout the whole season, nobody gave us respect. We lost our first game (70-63 to Memphis), and that gave people more fuel to throw on the fire.’

Said center Craig Forth: ‘Based on what everybody was saying, we weren’t thought to do much of anything. Now, here we are. And maybe we did play with a chip on our shoulder the whole time, kind of expecting to win.’

Published on March 30, 2003 at 12:00 pm