ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., March 16 -- At the end, Drexel's Dragons simply ran out of flames. John Wallace scored 18 points and Otis Hill added 16 points and eight rebounds Saturday night, helping Syracuse oust upstart Drexel from the NCAA Tournament with a 69-58 triumph in the second round of the NCAA West Regional. The Orangemen (26-8) advanced to face eighth-seeded Georgia in the regional semifinals Friday in Denver. Syracuse earned a Sweet 16 berth for the fifth time in the last nine seasons. Drexel was one of the compelling stories of the first round, having knocked off Memphis 75-63 in the first round. But the Dragons were no match for the superior front line put up by Syracuse. 'First of all, I'm really, really proud of my kids,' Drexel coach Bill Herrion said. 'I thought we played (Syracuse) for 40 minutes today. They're a good team, they're having a heck of a year and we wish them luck.' Jeff Myers finished with 18 points and Malik Rose had 11 points and 15 rebounds for the Dragons (27-4), who made their third consecutive NCAA appearance as North Atlantic Conference champions. Rose scored four straight points to get Drexel within 44-42. But Hill, who was hit in the head on Rose's second basket, made a jumper at the other end, Jason Cipolla finished off a fast break and Wallace backed in for a layup to push the lead back to 50-42. 'I thought Otis did a great job on inside,' Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said.
'Rose has been killing people inside all year.' The Dragons closed once again to four points before Lazarus Sims sank back-to-back three-pointers to give Syracuse the first double-digit lead of the game at 56-46. 'I felt there was no better time to take them,' Sims said. 'I feel confident in my shot. John kept kicking it to me, which showed he had confidence in me so I knew I had to take it.' Mike DeRocckis hit a jumper for Drexel to make the score 58-50 before Syracuse put the game away with a 6-2 spurt. Wallace sank a short jumper and Cipolla added a basket and two free throws with 1:54 left. Sims finished with 12 points and Todd Burgan and Wallace had seven rebounds for the Orangemen, who shot 65 percent from the floor in the second half. Syracuse was ousted by Arkansas in the second round last year. 'We tried to get the ball inside to John and be a little more patient and take the three late, but our biggest success was defensively we put down their three-point shooters and forced them to hurry it a bit,' Boeheim said. Cornelius Overbey had 16 points and Chuck Guittar and Jeff Myers added seven rebounds apiece for Drexel. The Dragons shot 36 percent from the floor and made just 6 of 30 attempts from three-point range. 'When I looked at the stat sheet, I didn't realize we took that many (threes),' Herrion said. 'Obviously, we're a team that has to get the ball inside to Malik.'
