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CLEVELAND — Brandon Triche didn’t exactly have the star power of Lance Stephenson in high school, but the Jamesville-DeWitt star did split the award for New York Mr. Basketball when the two were seniors in 2009.
Even then, the Syracuse sophomore guard knew they were different.
“We played against him our senior year,” Triche said of Jamesville-DeWitt’s 12-point win over Lincoln at Baruch College in 2009. Triche outscored Stephenson 20-15 in the game, but Triche knew Stephenson was the kind of player who had bigger things in mind.
“You could see then, just his intensity was unbelievable,” Triche said. “He’s one of those guys who intimidates you just by his presence.”
Now Stephenson, after one season at Cincinnati, is coming off the bench for the Pacers, while Triche is in the third round of the NCAA tournament, where the third-seeded Orange will play No. 11 Marquette tonight at Quicken Loans Arena.
Triche, who grew up just outside of Syracuse, isn’t surprised that the two chose different paths.
“He was more anxious to go pro,” Triche said. “If he could have done it out of high school, he probably would have and not even gone to college. For me, I wanted to develop and mature.”
That process is ongoing, as the 6-foot-4 guard tries to become more consistent in Jim Boeheim’s offense. And in his two seasons at Syracuse, Triche has frequently drawn Boeheim’s ire.
“I’m a very calm person,” Triche said. “Not too many things bother me, but he did my freshman year and I broke down at the end of the season. I said to myself, ‘This is gonna make me a better player or worse, but either way, I have to get mentally tougher.’”
When talking about the impact some of the veteran players have had on this year’s freshmen, Boeheim said this about Triche: “Brandon doesn’t talk to me or anybody, so I don’t know if Brandon’s had much effect on them. I haven’t seen him talk to anybody since he’s been with us. In fact, I haven’t seen him talk to anybody since he was a freshman in high school.”
Triche and his quiet demeanor will be further tested tonight against Marquette as Syracuse tries to make its third straight Sweet 16.
Earlier this season, Marquette beat a visiting Syracuse, extending the Orange’s losing streak to four games. Syracuse responded with a win at UConn. They think they’re a better team than the one that lost to the Golden Eagles in January.
“We were slumping back then,” senior Rick Jackson said of the six-point loss to their Big East foe. “We’re playing better defense now, and even then we knew we were the better team, so it’s good to see them again.”
They probably will need a better performance from Triche than the one he had in Syracuse’s win over Indiana State on Friday.
“I didn’t play good at all,” said Triche, who had eight points. “But you have to have a short memory, especially in the tournament.”
So now Triche gets another opportunity to make more of a name for himself during an inconsistent season in which he is averaging 11 points per game.
And for now, his focus remains on the tournament and not the NBA.
“I don’t compare myself with Lance at all,” Triche said. “And I didn’t back then, either. Just to be mentioned with him meant I was doing something right.”
dan.martin@nypost.com