By John Kekis
The Associated Press

Hoya Paranoia? Georgetown's bench doesn't look too happy as the second half progresses. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - When Syracuse holds a lead late in a game, coach Jim Boeheim rarely is in a foul mood. Georgetown is the latest team to find out why.

When the Hoyas tried the customary strategy of fouling in the closing minutes Monday night in a last-ditch effort to rally from behind, the No. 19 Orangemen calmly sank 14 straight free throws and held on for an 88-80 victory.

"To know that we can hit free throws down the stretch, that's very important," said Carmelo Anthony, who had 22 points and seven rebounds for the Orangemen and was 10-for-13 from the line. "That was the game right there."

Although Syracuse (15-3, 6-2 Big East) is converting only 67 percent of its foul shots, at crunch time the Orangemen have excelled. In the final five minutes of games, they're 82-for-104 from the line, a gaudy 78.8 percent. Against the Hoyas, they finished 29-for-33 overall, missing only one of 16 in the final five minutes.

"At the end, we really had to foul them to try to get back in the ballgame," Georgetown coach Craig Esherick said.

The Hoyas (10-8, 2-6) didn't stand a chance with Anthony inbounding the ball to freshman guard Gerry McNamara three straight times in the final minute. McNamara, who hit 30 straight free throws earlier in the season to come within four of the school record, was 8-for-8 Monday night to run his latest string to 24.

Syracuse's Hakim Warrick (1) celebrates with teammates Carmelo Anthony and Billy Edelin (14) after drawing a foul for a three point play. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

"When I go to the line, I just try not to think about it," said McNamara, who is 59-for-63 on the season and has hit all of his 35 in eight conference games. "I've always been a good free-throw shooter, but I think that good shooters should be good free-throw shooters."

As usual, Mike Sweetney carried the load for the Hoyas with 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks.

"Scoring is good, but we didn't win," said Sweetney, who scored eight straight points early in the game. "You can score as many points as you want, but if you don't win, it don't mean nothing. They outhustled us in the first half, but in the second half we stepped it up. But then they started hitting their free throws and we were missing ours."

McNamara finished with 22 points, Kueth Duany had 15, Hakim Warrick 11 and Billy Edelin 10 for the Orange.

Gerald Riley had 15 points, Victor Samnick 12, and Tony Bethel had 12 points and nine assists for Georgetown.

After Warrick scored eight points in 90 seconds midway through the second half to give Syracuse a 10-point lead, there wasn't much Sweetney could do. The Orangemen swished their way to victory from the foul line without any defenders to worry about.

Georgetown, which was 12-for-23 on free throws, lost its fourth straight and fell to 0-6 on the road. With the regular season winding down, the hard-luck Hoyas, who lost 93-92 in double overtime at No. 10 Notre Dame on Saturday, desperately need a winning streak to have any hopes of making the NCAA tournament. They've missed it four of the last five years.

"If we're losing close games, I think there's light at the end of the tunnel. I just don't know when I'm going to see the light," Esherick said. "The close games are tough to take, particularly right after the game. But when I watch the film, a lot of the games we played close we played well."

That the free throw line has become the Orangemen's friend at the end of games won't erase the one missed free throw that still haunts Boeheim nearly 16 years after it happened.

You know the one: Derrick Coleman's clanger on the front end of a one-and-one with 28 seconds left in the 1987 NCAA championship game, which came with Syracuse clinging to a 73-72 lead over Indiana. Twenty-four seconds later, Keith Smart's 16-foot baseline jumper deprived Boeheim and the Orangemen of the title.