The lineup of red taillights carved a roadside pathway for nearly a mile, as if arranged like a fluorescent arrow pointed with sharp, singular purpose. In short, even the small gym’s parking lot was a snapshot of local hoops hysteria.

Inside, several thousand fans packed the arena to standing-room capacity 25 minutes before tip-off. These days, no Jamesville-Dewitt High School boys’ basketball games go unnoticed. Crowds swell to the motions of Brandon Triche, in his final weeks as a high school basketball luminary.

In Saturday night’s sectional semifinal game against Oneida, Triche, the 6-foot-4 guard and top Syracuse recruit, picked up his first assist seven seconds into the game. After four minutes, J-D – ranked No. 1 in the state – was up 20-3. Triche finished with 13 points and 13 assists in the 89-70 victory. He didn’t play the fourth quarter.

And the escalating hum of a community’s expectations hit a new high note, compounding upon the shoulders of an 18-year-old basketball prodigy, one whose situation shallowly parallels that of a current SU guard.

Triche is the first local recruit for Syracuse since Andy Rautins signed out of Jamesville-Dewitt four years ago. By staying in town, both passed on opportunities for fresh starts, and anonymity, elsewhere. For both, home is where the heart (and the pressure) is.

‘My family is here. I think going to another place I would be homesick,’ Triche said. ‘I don’t like being in my house, but I like being in Syracuse.’

It’s been four years since Rautins ended his Red Rams career in a loss in the Section III championship game at Manley Field House, and four years since the skinny son of an SU legend signed a letter of intent thought to be little more than a local handout. In that span, he has blossomed into an icon – all spiked hair and soft shooting – in the comforts of his own backyard. He’s lived up to the expectations of being a native son.

In comparing Triche and Rautins, though, the latter was never a McDonald’s All-American candidate. He never had the burden of being on the national scene, too.

Rautins was an afterthought in the recruiting class with Eric Devendorf and Arinze Onuaku. But Triche, a favorite to win the Gatorade New York State Player of the Year award this year, passed up Connecticut and Georgetown, among others, to stay home.

‘It’s a tough crowd. Being a local kid coming in under the radar like I did, it was tough for me. I had to prove myself out here,’ Rautins said in the locker room after Sunday’s game. ‘Brandon put himself in a little better position because he’s all over the recruiting radar.’

That radar has been honed even more sharply in recent weeks, as Triche carries his team deeper into the playoffs (and possibly a second consecutive state championship). In the previous four games heading into Saturday, he was averaging 31 points per game.

He glided up and down the court against Oneida with a deliberateness that bordered on passivity. Was he pacing himself for the second half or for Syracuse?

Every so often, the engines would rev and Triche would be darting past a defender or flying in for a rebound. Toward the end of the second quarter, he buried a 3-pointer from 25 feet.

‘Part of it is his career is winding down,’ J-D head coach Bob McKenney said of the growing crowds. ‘And if you haven’t seen him before he goes to the next level, you’ve really got to try and come out and do it. He’s special. Central New York may not see someone with his unique abilities, to combine shooting and strength and passing and power, maybe again.’

‘Locally, everybody’s really excited,’ SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. ‘Obviously whatever happens, Brandon’s a huge part of the future of Syracuse basketball. A buzz? Yes, no question.’

The excitement is there because Triche couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play the role of hometown hero – and maybe steal it from Rautins. Can two players from the same backyard cohesively share the same backcourt?

Does Triche’s baggage include a celebrity status even Rautins never carried? In speaking with him, Triche actually tries to avoid talk of himself. When asked some reasons why he wanted so badly to stay home, he brought up his favorite restaurant, Tully’s. And he admitted that homesickness, even for a 6-foot-4 basketball star, might have been a reality.

‘Even going on AAU trips, it was hard for me,’ Triche said. ‘I’d want to be away from home, but then being away I just always think to myself that I want to be home.

‘I was looking at other schools and thinking, ‘Why would I not go to SU?”

It’s a fondness that’s mutual and growing stronger by the day. With each crowd-pleasing performance, Triche is proving he can handle defensive pressure – it’s the perceptual pressure that’s still left to be dealt with.

On Sunday he sat in the Carrier Dome watching his friend, and local-star kin, drain his 74th 3-pointer of the season. In Rautins, Triche recognizes an unheralded prospect who worked his way past the expectations that preceded him.

Next year Triche likely won’t be at the center of the basketball universe in Syracuse anymore. For now, though, the local crowds follow his footsteps with an anticipation few have felt in this city before.

Zach Schonbrun is the sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear occasionally. He can be reached at zsschonb@syr.edu.

Published on March 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm