SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- The Syracuse Orangemen finally took advantage of their size, and Richmond wilted.

With their front line of 6-foot-9 Etan Thomas, 6-7 Ryan Blackwell and 6-9 Damone Brown dominating the backboards with 32 rebounds -- 22 on the offensive glass -- the No. 14 Orangemen beat the Spiders 74-60 Friday night in the first round of the Carrier Classic.

	Syracuse's Etan Thomas was a scoring and rebounding force Friday as he led the Orangemen past Richmond.

Syracuse, which shot 41.8 percent for the game, scored nine follow-up baskets, winning the battle of the boards 44-29. The threesome also combined for 55 points.

"They just got too many easy baskets," Richmond coach John Beilein said. "They force you off your man because they're so individually talented. You leave your man a second and you're in trouble. It was just killing us. Most of them were putbacks. There weren't any long rebounds. They were always just right around the cup, and they just beat us to the cup."

Thomas led the way for Syracuse (5-0) with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Blackwell had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Brown 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Orangemen, who lost in the first round of the Carrier Classic last year to Ohio University, will play St. Joseph's in the championship Saturday night.

It was only the second meeting between Syracuse and Richmond (2-2). The first was one the Orangemen would sooner forget. Richmond made NCAA tournament history at the Orangemen's expense in 1991, becoming the first 15th seed to defeat a No. 2 seed.

There was no upset on this night, but the Spiders made the game interesting until the closing minutes.

"Down the stretch, I think we wore them down with our size," said Blackwell, who had four assists. "That's something we take pride in, and that was probably the deciding factor."

Syracuse, which led 34-29 at halftime, built a double-digit lead with Thomas and point guard Jason Hart on the bench. A follow-up basket by Damone Brown, a 3-pointer by DeShaun Williams, and baskets by Preston Shumpert and Blackwell gave Syracuse a 55-44 lead with 9:16 left.

But Richmond stayed in the game, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Scott Ungerer and a pair of baskets by Charles Stephens.

Consecutive layups by Thomas, Hart, and Brown gave Syracuse a commanding 65-53 lead with 3:27 left.

"We thought that we could compete with them, and pretty much for 35 minutes of the game we were with them," said Ungerer, who finished with 14 points, nine assists and only one turnover. "But they got a couple of loose balls, a couple of offensive rebounds that went in and hit a couple of shots. It's just really disappointing right now because we thought that we could hang tough with them, come in and pull off a win."

Syracuse won despite a subpar performance from Hart, who was averaging 14.5 points per game. He was called for three fouls in the first half and scored just two points.

"We don't depend on just one person to get points," said Damone Brown, who also had four steals. "We've got a lot of options and a lot of people who can step up and make plays."

Greg Stevenson also scored 14 points for Richmond, and Stephens and Reggie Brown each had 10.