NEW YORK -- Fab Melo returned just in time to help Jim

Boeheim reach another milestone.

Melo scored a career-high 14 points in his first action after a

three-game absence and Boeheim tied Dean Smith for third place on

the victory list with win No. 879 as No. 2 Syracuse dominated St.

John's 95-70 on Saturday.

Syracuse (23-1, 10-1 Big East) rallied behind the return of the

7-foot Melo, taking a 41-27 halftime lead and blowing it open by

starting the second half on a 16-3 run in front of a sellout crowd

of 19,979 at Madison Square Garden, most of whom were wearing

orange.

Melo missed the last three games as he resolved an academic

issue. He had been allowed to practice with the team and he looked

ready from the start of his first game back, once again a force in

the middle on the back line of the 2-3 zone.

"I had fun. It felt good to be back on the court with my

teammates," Melo said. "I felt a little rusty and I wanted to do

everything at once but Coach told me to slow down and I did."

Melo was asked if he was nervous that the academic issue

wouldn't be resolved.

"I was never nervous," he said. "I wasn't."

Dion Waiters and C.J. Fair both had 14 points for the Orange,

whose only loss this season was at Notre Dame in the first game of

the three Melo missed. Kris Joseph and Michael Carter-Williams had

13 points each for Syracuse, which shot 55.7 percent (39 for 70)

from the field.

After tying Smith, the longtime coach at North Carolina, Boeheim

trails only fellow Hall of Famers Mike Krzyzewski (919) and Bob

Knight (902) on the career wins list.

"I can't even see him," Boeheim joked when asked if had heard

from Krzyzewski lately about moving up the list. "Dean Smith was

an unbelievable coach, one of, I think, the four best ever in

college basketball. But we have a long way to go this season."

Boeheim and Syracuse have continued to win despite a tumultuous

stretch for the program. Bernie Fine, his assistant for more than

35 years, was fired three games into the season after two former

ball boys accused him of sexually molesting them when they were

young.