Playing on back-to-back nights in the rugged National Lacrosse League can be physically daunting.

Unless, of course, you are fortunate enough to be playing the Syracuse Smash in the second half of the double dip.

On the heels of a hard-fought 12-10 victory in New York on Friday night, the Rochester Knighthawks barely had to huff or puff to blow away the Smash, 23-10, in front of 8,102 fans at Blue Cross Arena.

"The problem with the back-to-back games is you never know how you're going to come out in the second game," said Rochester's Tim Soudan. "The fact that we had Syracuse and they hadn't won a game this year was a positive situation, but they played some teams tight this year, so we couldn't take them lightly."

Well, that's a nice thing to say, but the truth is coach Paul Day could have dressed his practice squad and the result would have been similar.

It was April Fools' Day, and playing the lead role as the joke were the Smash, now 0-10 on the season and 0-18 all-time on the road.

Holy mackerel, this is a bad team, but what can anyone expect from a group that no longer practices?

Once it was obvious the season was lost, Smash owner Howard Dolgon traded his two best players -- Paul Gait and Mark Millon -- and told the holdovers they need not bother practicing anymore. Yet Dolgon had the gall to tell Syracuse fans last week that if 5,000 didn't show up for the Smash's game against Albany on Friday night, he would move the team out of town.

Good riddance they said as about 500 watched a 17-6 loss.

"One of the things we talked about in the dressing room is we know they haven't been practicing for about six weeks," said Day. "We have a lot of respect for the game of lacrosse and it was a motivating factor for us.

"As a professional team you better practice, and we were going to make sure that we were a professional team. I can't believe they haven't been practicing; it shows no respect for the game."

The Knighthawks' 23 goals and 13-goal margin of victory were both single-game team records, and with five goals and six assists, John Grant Jr. set a new team mark for most points in a season, breaking Gait's standard of 65 set in 1997. Grant now has 32-35-67.

"I've been the leading scorer on my team before, but all I want to do is win a championship," said Grant. "That's why I'm glad I came to Rochester, this is the most talented team and I just wanted to come here and help out."

Grant may now get the chance to gun for that championship. With the two victories this weekend, the Knighthawks stretched their winning streak to four, and a team that was floundering terribly just one month ago is now 7-4 and on the verge of making the playoffs for the sixth straight year.

If the Knighthawks defeat Philadelphia in their season finale on 15 April, they guarantee themselves a spot in the postseason.

"It goes to show that some teams play to the level of their competition and good teams play good all the time," said Curt Malawsky.

"None of us planned that little lull in the middle of the season, but you always want to be on top of your game coming into the playoffs and that's where we are right now."

Rochester jumped out to a 5-2 first-quarter lead and duplicated that scoring breakdown in the second period for a 10-4 halftime lead.

After the Smash scored two quick power-play goals to open the third, the Knighthawks answered with eight in a row to rip it open. Grant had two goals and three assists during that run while Soudan scored two goals and an assist.

"The thing with John is when he gets the ball in his stick, the ball grows eyes," said Soudan.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Syracuse Smash (0-10)             2  2  3  3  --  10
Rochester Knighthawks (7-4)       5  5  8  5  --  23


SYRACUSE SMASH                ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Halladay       3 - 4     7    Grant          5 - 6    11
Alexander      1 - 3     4    C Malawsky     3 - 3     6
Klodzen        1 - 2     3    Soudan         3 - 3     6
Seremet        1 - 1     2    D Jacobs       1 - 4     5
Wilfong        1 - 1     2    Powell         1 - 4     5
Jones          1 - 0     1    Co Bomberry    3 - 1     4
Oudemool       1 - 0     1    Kruger         2 - 2     4
Powless        1 - 0     1    McCready       1 - 2     3
Rothfuss       0 - 1     1    Teat           1 - 1     2
Talmo          0 - 1     1    Zaph           1 - 1     2
                              Hasen          1 - 0     1
                              MacArthur      1 - 0     1
                              Dietrich       0 - 1     1
                              Hollenbeck     0 - 1     1
                              O'Toole        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           51    Shots on goal           59
Saves made by (GA)      36    Saves made by (GA)      41
   Collins (15)      25          O'Toole (7)       35
   Cowie (11)        11          Dietrich (3)       6
Loose Balls             76    Loose Balls             81
   Talmo             10          Hollenbeck        10
   Seremet            8          Powell            10
   Oudemool           7          O'Toole            9
   John Fay           7

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH KNIGHTHAWKS WEB SITE ***