NEW YORK — On several occasions this season, Cardozo High School coach Ron Naclerio has suggested to his former pupil, James Southerland, that he needed to add some arc to his jump shot.
“He kind of line-drived it and it was just off by a millimeter,” Naclerio told SNY.tv Thursday afternoon. “And thank God, it seemed like he raised his arc today.”
Raised his arc and his game in a big-time spot.
The 6-foot-8 Southerland scored all 10 of his points in the final eight minutes as No. 1 Syracuse held off No. 9 UConn, 58-55, in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals to advance to a semifinal showdown with Cincinnati on Friday night. Thanks to a game-winning shot from Cashmere Wright and a season-high 23 points from Yancy Gates, the No. 4 Bearcats advanced with a 72-70 double-overtime win against No. 5 Georgetown.
Southerland averaged just 6.6 points and 15 minutes coming into the game, but played 27 minutes in this one. After missing his first two shots, Southerland hit two huge 3-pointers as part of an 8-0 second-half run that turned a 47-43 deficit into a 51-47 lead.
After the second long-distance shot he enthusiastically slapped hands with teammate Dion Waiters in the middle of the Madison Square Garden floor.
Southerland’s father, James Sr., was not in the stands, but his mother, Magalie, his sister and his girlfriend, whom Naclerio said was a model, were all in the stands.
“It felt really great out there, especially being home and all,” the Floral Park, N.Y. native said.
Southerland said as part of “readjusting his shot,” he “put more legs into my shot.”
“I think James is a very, very good offensive player, and I think he hasn’t scratched his potential,” Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s getting better every day. He’s got to help us more on the boards, but he’s a tremendous shooter.”
Naclerio, who coached Southerland for three years before his finished up with a prep year at Notre Dame Prep, said several NBA scouts had reached out to him during the lockout to praise the young man.
“I heard some pro scouts during the lockout he was their best player or second best player behind Waiters during the practices,” Naclerio said. “A lot of NBA scouts told me that they liked him.”
In high school, Southerland was courted by then-St. John’s coach Norm Roberts, but Naclerio said he tipped off Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins about Southerland.
“Ron Naclerio called me and said he had a pro forward whose favorite school is Syracuse,” Hopkins recalled. “I went to an open gym. I watched him shoot 3’s easily, then watched him jump and dunk from the foul line. That’s all I needed to see.”
Said Southerland: “Syracuse has big fan support and nationwide everyone loves the Orange. Everywhere we go we got a lot of fans so it’s great for us.”
Southerland scored Syracuse’s final four points, including two foul shots with 15.2 seconds left.
It speaks to just how deep Syracuse is that Southerland was the man down the stretch, not any of their other stars.
“Basically, anybody on this team can step up,” he said. “That’s one of the great things about this team, is we have a lot of talent and on given day it can be anybody’s game.
“And that’s what I felt like I did today.”
Syracuse point guard Scoop Jardine says it’s players like Southerland and other bench players who can help the Orange go deep into March Madness.
“They’re the guys that win the national championship for us, those type of guys like a James Southerland or Rakeem [Christmas] coming in getting six or seven rebounds and that’s what we ask them to do and today the did it. We called their number and I think they’re going to deliver for us all year.”
Southerland says he isn’t done yet.
“It’s still not satisfying because, you know, I want to win a championship,” he said. “I just want to keep producing.”
