Syracuse adds to MU's woes

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Syracuse's first trip outside New York was a big success.

Hakim Warrick had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and the 17th-ranked Orangemen pulled away in the second half to beat Missouri 82-68 Monday night for their 12th straight victory.

Coach Jim Boeheim won his 665th career game, pulling ahead of John Wooden for 19th on the career Division I victory list. He's 665-227 in 28 seasons at Syracuse.

The Orangemen (12-1) are unbeaten since losing the opener to Charlotte. This was their first true road game, and they were impressive against a team ranked as high as third earlier in the season.

Syracuse arrived in Columbia on Saturday after beating Boston College earlier that day. A sold-out Hearnes Center did not rattle the visitors.

"We were intense from the beginning," said center Craig Forth, who scored a career-high 18 points. "I think we really fed off the crowd."

Five players contributed to a 16-2 run that put the game away in the second half, turning a three-point lead into a 59-42 edge with 11:13 to go. Warrick capped the run with his third dunk of the game, and 37th of the season, off a feed from Josh Pace.

Missouri (6-6) was frustrated throughout by Syracuse's 2-3 zone and went almost five minutes between points during its drought.

"This is the best our zone has been all year," Boeheim said. "We knew we would have to get it going pretty soon and tonight it was the difference."

The Tigers, who got a season-best 25 points from Rickey Paulding, have lost five of seven after starting the season 3-1. They're 4-2 at home including an upset loss to Belmont last month.

"We've got guys who are competing at various times, but collectively we have letdowns," coach Quin Snyder said. "And good teams expose those letdowns, whether it's forgetting to block a guy out or not rotating to the shooter."

The Tigers twice cut the deficit to eight points in the final four minutes. But Syracuse was clicking in all areas, including making 17 consecutive free throws at one point after entering the game shooting only 63 percent from the line.

Syracuse finished 24-for-30, or 80 percent, on its free throws. Warrick was 7-for-8, Gerry McNamara 6-for-7 and both Forth and Billy Edelin were 4-for-4.

Warrick has four double-doubles this season and paced an attack that had four players in double figures. Forth, a 7-footer, hit six of his first seven shots on layups off slick feeds. Many of Forth's baskets came when Missouri double-teamed Warrick or McNamara.

McNamara had 17 points, including three 3-pointers.

, and Pace 15 for Syracuse. McKinney added 12 points for Missouri, which got a lecture about its porous defense from Snyder after the game.

"They were getting easy baskets all night," McKinney said. "That's what killed us, the easy baskets."

Syracuse finished the first half on a 14-4 run, getting six points from Warrick and the last four from Pace and connecting on its last five shots. That erased a four-point deficit, giving the Orangemen a 38-32 lead at the break.