Sports

‘CUSE FANS CONTROL GARDEN IN ROUT OF STORM

There are games to forget and games that should never be forgotten. Ever.

If one day St. John’s cuts down the nets at the Garden as Big East Tournament champs – an absurd dream after watching last night’s 87-58 utter humiliation at the hands of Syracuse – the Red Storm should remember this Fat Tuesday Massacre.

Malik Boothe and Paris Horne, two of the sophomores who comprise the foundation of the Red Storm, said they would remember this night because, as Boothe said, “I don’t want to ever feel it again.”

There was one moment in particular that has been burned into their collective psyches.

It came with 11:41 left and Syracuse (20-8, 8-7 Big East) leading 56-32. The nationally-ranked St. John’s dance team had just tossed free 6th-Man T-shirts into the stands when one was hurled back onto the court. Then back came a second shirt.

“I guess there are Syracuse fans everywhere,” said Boothe. “They just came out to support them, on our homecourt. That’s all I can say about it.”

Then the crowd of 11,148, which suddenly seemed to be from upstate, began a haunting chant of “Let’s go Orange! Let’s go Orange!”

“It’s burning feeling,” said Horne, who led the Storm with 17 points. “And I know our teammates feel the same way.”

This was as bluntly different a scene as the one in Carnesecca Arena on Sunday when the Red Storm, before a raucous sellout crowd, edged Seton Hall, 70-65. That was a primer in program-building. Last night was a building condemned for St. John’s (13-15, 4-11).

To make matters worse, Lincoln High point guard Lance Stephenson, the No. 1 recruit in the city, was sitting baseline with his father.

“I want to go to a place where the coach is going to push me to be a better player and there are good teammates around me,” Stephenson told The Post. “And I want to go to a team that doesn’t care for losing but is all about winning.”

St. John’s coach Norm Roberts described his postgame speech to his players as “strong.”

“He was just on us,” said Horne. “I don’t know what it was. We just didn’t come out with that fire. Maybe after the Seton Hall game, we got a little happy.”

Happy? What joy is there in never having been to the NCAA Tournament? That is a joy Syracuse fans know. They even saw their players cut down the nets in 2003. All of New York was Syracuse country.

“We’ve always drawn a pretty good crew of fans down here,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who passed Dean Smith with his 31st 20-win season, getting 21 points from Jonny Flynn and 64.9 percent shooting from his Orange team. “But tonight was probably the most that I can remember.”

It’s a night St. John’s should never forget. Ever.

lenn.robbins@nypost.com

Syracuse 87 St. John’s 58