Orangemen new NCAA champions

Freshmen Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara did the scoring and Hakim Warrick came up with a huge block in the final seconds on Monday to lift the Syracuse University Orangemen to a thrilling 81-78 championship victory over University of Kansas.

``We played the best first half we could play and then we just hung on,'' said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim in his 27th year at his alma mater.

Warrick, who missed two free throws that would have sealed the game with 13.5 seconds remaining, made up for it by coming from nowhere to swat a 3-point attempt by Michael Lee that would have tied it.

Making it up

``I definitely wanted to go out there and make a play after missing those free throws,'' Warrick said.

``I saw a guy open in the corner and I knew they needed to hit a 3, so I just tried to fly at him.''

Kirk Hinrich, cold all night, shot an airball at the buzzer and the Orangemen (30-5) ran to the floor to celebrate their first-ever title. Boeheim threw his arms in the air and ran to shake hands with Kansas boss Roy Williams, deprived once again of the NCAA championship.

Anthony showed he is certainly ready for the NBA if he chooses, fighting off a bad back to finish with 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. McNamara hit six 3-pointers in the first half to finish with 18 points.

``All my hard work just paid off tonight,'' Anthony said. ``I paid a physical toll the whole night, the whole tournament.

Black and blue

"The whole season, everybody's been beating me up. Coach told me to tough it up.''

In a marquee coaching matchup between Boeheim and Williams, a pair of brilliant tacticians who had never won it all, it was Boeheim who finally broke through, after 27 years coaching at his alma mater.

Sixteen years ago, Syracuse lost by one to Indiana on Keith Smart's game-winner with four seconds left on the same Superdome floor. Boeheim said he wanted to get the last four seconds right this time, and he did just barely.

``I didn't want it to be another one of those Keith Smart shots,'' Warrick said, referring to his game-saving block.

Boeheim added, ``I think this building kind of owed us one.''

In the first half, it didn't look as if he'd have to sweat it.

The Orangemen built their lead to 18 during a breakneck first half. But things ground to a halt in the second, and it was Boeheim's famous 2-3 zone that closed out the game.

When it was over, bad free-throw shooting killed the Jayhawks (30-8). They missed an amazing 18 of 30. They also never really found the outside touch to force the Orangemen to guard them up high.

Hinrich shot 6-for-20 -- 3-for-12 from 3-point range, and missed twice with a chance to tie in the closing seconds.

One-man show

Inside, Boeheim's "D" came close to turning Kansas into a one-man show. All-American forward Nick Collison was valiant -- he finished with 19 points and 21 rebounds.

But in the end, he simply didn't have enough help against the tall and long Syracuse players and that well-coached defense.

Of course, there are some things you simply can't coach, and McNamara, Anthony, Warrick -- the whole team, really -- played a one-on-one style of offense in the first half that looked as if it came straight from the playground.

McNamara was relentless, unabashedly hoisting shots from 23, 24, 25 feet and making almost all of them.

By the end of the first half, he was 6-for-8 -- his season high -- and the Orangemen led 53-42.