Dunk you very much

LAHAINA » California coach Mike Montgomery was unimpressed. He was probably the only one in the Lahaina Civic Center.

Jaws dropped when Syracuse sophomore Jerami Grant slammed home a "SportsCenter"-worthy putback dunk in the second half of the No. 8 Orangemen’s 92-81 defeat of the Golden Bears in the EA Sports Maui Invitational semifinals on Tuesday.

"It’s a dunk. A lot of people dunk in college basketball," Montgomery said. "He’s obviously a tremendous leaper. He made a great play and we didn’t block off. If he made a layup below the rim it would have counted the same."

But it wasn’t a layup. It electrified most of the packed-house crowd of 2,400 and stunned the Bears fans, while giving the Orange a 64-59 lead with nine minutes to play.

Grant, the son and nephew, respectively, of NBA veterans (and twin brothers) Harvey and Horace Grant, soared in from the left side of the paint, caught the ball around his chest in midair and threw it down with two hands.

"I just seen Trevor (Cooney) going for a pull-up, and I don’t know, I just, I always crash the boards no matter what," said Grant, a Maryland native. "I came in and I just grabbed it."

The reserve big man fouled out with a career-best 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting with eight rebounds, three assists and no turnovers.

Syracuse (6-0) improved to 8-0 in games on Maui going back to 1990 and will face No. 18 Baylor for the tourney championship at 5 p.m. today.

Immediately following the dunk, Grant grabbed another board on a Bears miss and Cooney hit a 3-pointer. Guard Tyler Ennis stole the Cal inbounds pass and laid it in for a 10-point lead. Syracuse, a Final Four team last March, remained in control from there and defeated Cal (5-1) in a rematch of the NCAA Tournament round of 32.

A day after Syracuse senior C.J. Fair had his face bloodied on an emphatic left-handed throwdown in a win over Minnesota, it was Grant bringing the thunder.

"I just see Jerami almost jump over my head," Fair said. "That was a big play for us. It got us momentum and then we turned it up from there on defense."

Numerous scouts were on hand to see it. ESPN’s NBA Draft analyst Chad Ford nearly fell out in his seat.

Ford said Grant projects as a mid-first-round pick — but plays like that could bump the 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward up to lottery status.

Grant, who earned a spot on the USA Basketball Under-19 squad in the summer, pinned a Cal layup on the backboard with 3:47 left. It was whistled goaltending, but the would-be block was emphatic — and a reminder of Grant’s considerable physical gifts demonstrated just minutes earlier.