ALBANY – Craig Forth usually sports a stoic demeanor during games. His eyes: fixed with an intent glare. His face: a shade red with exertion. His jaw: set square, permitting the occasional snarl after he tears down a rebound.

But in Syracuse’s 91-65 win over Albany on Sunday, Forth let down his guard just a bit.

During warmups, he stepped out of the layup line time and time again to wave to and shake hands with friends and family who showed up at the Pepsi Arena to watch Forth in his return to the Capital Region.

‘That was probably the most I’ve ever stepped out in warmups and shook hands,’ Forth said. ‘It was a lot of fun. It was good to see some faces.’

Forth, who grew up in East Greenbush, about 30 minutes from Albany, had dinner with his family Saturday night before returning to the team’s hotel. On Sunday afternoon, Forth’s parents, Murray and Maggie, sat five rows behind the SU bench.

‘We probably know half this place,’ Murray Forth said, looking around at the crowd of 8,200. ‘He knew there would be lots of people who normally wouldn’t come out for the game.’

When the Orangemen’s starting lineup was announced, Forth’s name drew by far the loudest cheers for either team from the largely pro-Syracuse crowd.

And Forth didn’t disappoint, scoring six points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking five shots in 23 minutes. With 1:30 left in the first half, Forth exhibited his patented ferocity, swatting away two consecutive Joe Vukovic shots.

The crowd’s cheers turned to fears with 5.1 seconds left in the first half. Forth took a pass from point guard James Thues and lunged toward the basket for a layup. Vukovic, trying to get in position to defend the shot, fouled Forth hard, taking out Forth’s legs. His 7-foot frame slammed to the floor near the baseline, his face crashing hardest.

After grimacing, Forth lifted his left hand as if to say, ‘I’m OK.’ He picked himself up, dusted off his jersey and hit his two free throws.

In the locker room following the game, Forth had a bag of ice on his elbow but couldn’t point to which skirmish led to the bruise.

‘I go down so many times you don’t even know when I hurt it,’ Forth said. ‘I’m worried about my face. He caught me on that one.’

And after last season’s struggles with the three-headed monster of Billy Celuck, Jeremy McNeil and Ethan Cole at center, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is relieved to have a more reliable big man to fill the position.

‘We really haven’t had that physical big presence out there for a couple years,’ Boeheim said. ‘He takes up a lot of space. He’s not quite comfortable yet shooting that 15-footer, but he can make that shot. When he gets comfortable with it, he’ll be very difficult to defend.’

More bench time

Syracuse sophomore Greg Davis said after the game that he would redshirt this season.

‘From what I understand, it’s just to give me an extra year to progress,’ he said.

Davis talked with Boeheim at the end of last season about the possibility of redshirting this year but said he hasn’t made a decision regarding whether he wants to transfer. If he chose to leave Syracuse, redshirting this season would provide him with an extra year of eligibility at another school.

‘I really don’t know if that’s an option right now,’ he said. ‘Transferring is always a tough decision.’

Last season, Davis appeared in just nine games, averaging 0.2 points, last among scholarship players.

Gallup slowed

E.J. Gallup was the lone bright spot in Albany’s 105-75 loss to Syracuse last December, knocking down six three pointers and scoring 20 points.

Boeheim was set on not letting Gallup explode again. The 26-year head coach watched film of Gallup and advised his players to guard Gallup as they defend SU sharpshooter Preston Shumpert in practice.

Boeheim put the Orangemen’s most athletic player, Kueth Duany, on Gallup, and Duany rendered him ineffective. Though he scored 14 points, second among Great Danes players, Gallup rarely saw a good shot. He was 5 of 25 and 2 of 15 from three-point range.

‘Putting Kueth Duany on anybody makes it tough for them to get going,’ Albany head coach Scott Beeten said. ‘He’s 6-6, but he looks like he’s about 6-10.’

Gallup, Albany’s leading scorer with 25.2 points per game, netted just two points in the first half.

‘The shots he had to take were unmakeable in the first half,’ Boeheim said. ‘The one he made was unmakeable.’

Duany said Albany’s good mix of scoring threats made the Orangemen play a tighter defense.

‘You can’t let a guy like (Gallup) get open shots,’ Duany said. ‘He’s just going to kill you.’

Playground Power

While Gallup struggled to find open looks, Earv Opong provided the Great Danes with a spark. Opong, averaging just 5.2 points, scored a career-high 19, including several unconventional layups.

With 9:25 left in the first half, Opong drove through the lane, shaking Duany for an easy layup.

Though the game was out of reach in the second half, Opong didn’t slow. He pulled the Danes within 30 points with a stellar up-and-under layup that drew ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from the crowd.

‘He’s a real tricky guy with the ball,’ Duany said. ‘He’s got guys jumping every which way with his moves. He’s impressive.’

What’s even more impressive is that Opong has played only two years of significant time in organized basketball. During his high school days at Christopher Columbus High in the Bronx, Opong barely saw action and didn’t play as a senior because he wanted to concentrate on academics.

Instead of hitting the hardwood in gyms during high school, Opong pounded the pavement of Harlem’s famed Rucker Park, where Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar got their starts. TNT featured Opong in a documentary about Rucker Park that aired during the 2000 NBA playoffs.

Opong went to Sullivan County Community College in the Catskill Mountain town of Loch Sheldrake after high school and transferred to Albany before this season.

‘If Earv can be consistent shooting the ball, he’s going to be tough to defend because he can get by anybody off the dribble,’ Beeten said.

‘His shot doesn’t look pretty but that doesn’t matter,’ Boeheim said. ‘If it goes in, it’s pretty.’

This and that

Josh Pace had ‘S.P.’ scrawled on the outside of his ankle tape and his initials and hometown (Griffin, Ga.) on the inside of his ankle. The ‘S.P.’ is short for southpaw as Pace is the only lefty on the SU squad. … Syracuse is now 4-0 all-time against Albany. … The Albany newspaper, the Times Union, distributed signs that said ‘Go Syracuse.’ Go figure. … Two thousand fewer people showed up to watch Albany play Syracuse, the No. 10 team in the nation, than Siena, a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team and the Capital Region’s other Division I team, last Tuesday. … Tickets to Sunday’s game went for as much as $75, with the cheapest seat selling for $20.50. … Albany’s band, a motley crew of about 20 students, sat in the corner of the arena’s upper deck.

Published on December 2, 2001 at 12:00 pm