WORCESTER, Mass. – Josh Pace didn’t envision his Syracuse career ending like this. From Big East Champions to one of the NCAA Tournament’s biggest upsets in one week was too much to fathom for Pace and fellow senior Hakim Warrick.

‘We really can’t say we had a bad career,’ Pace said. ‘There were a lot of positives. You never want it to end like this, but the positives outweigh the negatives.’

Pace’s No. 4-seeded Orange fell to the No.13-seeded Vermont Catamounts on Friday, 60-57, in front of 13,009. The loss marked the last time Pace, Warrick and senior Craig Forth will wear Orange jerseys.

After the game, the usually talkative Warrick and Pace were all but close-lipped. They had little to say about Syracuse’s loss, in disbelief that it actually happened.

‘I wish we could have played a lot better,’ Warrick said. ‘I didn’t want to end my season the way it did.’

Throughout the game, this was clear. Though Warrick finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds, the Catamounts severely limited him offensively down low. Warrick got few dunks and turned the ball over 10 times. His frustration was obvious as the officials failed to give Warrick calls that were the norm for him during conference play.

Vermont sophomore Martin Klimes, who played all 45 minutes, handled the athletically-superior Warrick by pressuring him with the ball and with double teams. Warrick did not score a point in the second half until 3:47 remained.

At 11:31 of the second half, the Catamount defense closed the middle forcing Warrick to take a 3-pointer that went out of bounds. On SU’s next possession, Warrick snagged a rebound off a Gerry McNamara missed shot, but Klimes forced him to miss lay-ups on two consecutive tries. Vermont also forced three Warrick turnovers during the stretch and one offensive foul.

‘We decided to give help on (Warrick) and I think it caused him to turn the ball over and do some things that he didn’t want to do,’ UVM head coach Tom Brennan said. ‘Klimes has been selfless this season, he’s been a soldier and has really accepted that role.’

After the game, the hurt was evident. Pace, Warrick, Terrence Roberts and Gerry McNamara lingered in the locker room long after the rest of the team had left the building. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim consoled a moping McNamara. It was obvious a couple of players had been crying.

‘This is not how I wanted my friends to go out,’ McNamara said.

Pace wasn’t able to solve UVM’s defense either, scoring only eight points on five field goal attempts. Forth was held to four points.

The senior trio has come a long way together, winning a national championship as sophomores and Syracuse’s first Big East Championship in 12 years. But on Friday, the road came to an end.

‘These guys have had tremendous careers and I’m really proud to be around them,’ Boeheim said. ‘They never give up and they didn’t give up tonight. We had a very poor defensive game and it would have been easy to give up, but they didn’t.’

Published on March 21, 2005 at 12:00 pm