Syracuse76 Seton Hall62

Syracuse and Seton Hall may have been tied in the Big East standings, but they’re two dissimilar teams going in very different directions. And the Orangemen’s 76-62, wire-to-wire win last night in front of 12,194 at the Meadowlands made it painfully obvious which team was marching toward yet another NCAA Tournament and which may be coming apart at the seams.

The Pirates had given Syracuse fits of late, blowing out the Orangemen in the previous two meetings. But last night it was Syracuse that led from start to finish. It was the Pirates who lost their composure, their fourth straight game and possibly their NCAA hopes.

Seton Hall had been 10-0 at home this season, but last night it was Syracuse that was perfect – or at least close enough. The Orangemen (15th in The Post’s Top 25) led tap-to-buzzer against a surprisingly flat Seton Hall team, taking a 12-2 lead on Allen Griffin’s tip-in 3:09 into the game and never looking back. The Pirates would never get within seven the rest of the way.

Syracuse point guard Jason Hart had a career-high 24 points, and put the clamps on Pirate star Shaheen Holloway. Holloway was scoreless until 1:48 left in this cakewalk, and he was yanked just a minute into the second half.

He was stuck on the bench alongside coach Tommy Amaker, who was visibly upset by the loss, incensed with his team’s effort and angry about his point guard’s play.

“I was very disappointed in our effort,” Amaker said. “We had a chance to play a nationally ranked team here in front of a great crowd. It was probably the best crowd we’ve had all season. It was an opportunity that we just absolutely threw away.

“As the coach of this team I take the responsibility. But I don’t have any answers. I think Holloway missed his shots early, got down and it showed in the rest of his play.”

Holloway had been the catalyst in The Hall’s 85-61 win over Syracuse last season and their 80-64 victory earlier this season. But yesterday Hart had his way with Holloway, holding him to 1-for-10 shooting and half-a-dozen turnovers. And Holloway shouldered the blame for not leading the team.

“They jumped on us early, and didn’t let the crowd get into it, didn’t let us get into it,” Holloway said. “For us to win the game, we needed everybody to step up and I didn’t step up. I didn’t show the leadership skills we needed.”

Few of the Pirates did. Two possible exceptions were backups Ty Shine and Ramon Cespedes, who had a career-high 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting. But they had precious little help from their teammates.

These teams had entered the game tied for seventh in the Big East at 5-5, but that’s where the similarities end. The Orangemen (15-6) are ranked 17th in the latest AP poll and 16th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, and seem headed for yet another NCAA tourney.

But The Hall fell to 11-9, and may be falling rapidly toward the NIT. The Pirates had won seven straight games earlier in the season, including that rout in Syracuse. But now they’ve lost six of eight.

Shooting guard Rimas Kaukenas continued his slump, following his 1-of-8 effort in Miami with a 3-for-12 performance last night. And leading scorer Gary Saunders got off just four shots all night, hitting only one.

“I don’t think today we came ready to play,” Saunders admitted. “[Losses to] UConn and Miami, maybe those were different. But tonight we didn’t come ready to play. Those guys wanted it more than us.”

Seton Hall had shot under 40 percent in five straight games, and last night was no different. Syracuse’s league-leading defense held The Hall to 37 percent shooting.