PITTSBURGH – The weight of 108 failed attempts rested squarely on UNC Asheville’s shoulders. The McNeese States and East Tennessee States of college basketball history saw in the Bulldogs a chance for vindication.

For 33 minutes, it was the greatest upset the NCAA Tournament had ever seen. The greatest upset in basketball history period. No. 16 UNC Asheville deadlocked with No. 1 Syracuse with 6:42 remaining.

And like the 108 games No. 16 seeds have played against No. 1 seeds before – though this was closer than most – it slipped away in the end.

‘We took control of the game,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘Wasn’t like it came down to the last play. We had control of the game.’

An 8-0 run beginning at the 6:42 mark of the second half gave SU the final push it needed to dismiss a feisty UNC Asheville (24-10) team 72-65. The crowd of 18,927 inside the Consol Energy Center nearly saw the first triumph by a 16 seed in the history of the tournament, but timely shot-making by the Orange (32-2) pushed it through to the third round.

After withstanding one final surge by the Bulldogs, Syracuse held on to advance to the Round of 32. The Orange will face No. 8 Kansas State on Saturday, which knocked of Southern Mississippi earlier Thursday.

Coming into the game, Syracuse was already under the microscope after the loss of starting center and Big East Defensive Player of the Year Fab Melo. The sophomore 7-footer was declared ineligible for the tournament Tuesday.

Without him, the Orange was viewed as upset-prone. And the Bulldogs of the Big South conference seemed to smell blood in the water.

Behind a relentless rebounding effort against the much-taller Orange and hot outside shooting, UNC Asheville held a 27-22 lead with 4:32 remaining in the first half.The half ended with the Bulldogs up four.

‘They played with a lot more energy than us,’ Syracuse guard Brandon Triche said. ‘They did all the right things to win the game.’

The Orange stormed back in the second half to take two separate four-point leads with less than 10 minutes to play, but the Bulldogs kept their composure.

A jumper by Jaron Lane over the top of SU’s James Southerland and Baye Keita knotted the game at 54.
‘They thought in their mind they could beat us,’ Syracuse forward C.J. Fair said.

‘So it’s hard to beat a team like that, and they were knocking down shots.’

But then came the trademark spurt the Orange has relied on so many times this season to pull away from its opponents.

A gutty three-point play by Kris Joseph, one that saw his layup bank in high off the glass, was sandwiched between two clutch jumpers from James Southerland.

The first from Southerland, a deep two from the right side, followed a timeout by Boeheim. The second, a 3-pointer from the top of the key, gave SU its largest lead of the game, 62-54, with 2:36 remaining.

All three baskets were the result of the different dynamic Southerland provided on the floor. Instead of having the less-mobile Melo in the middle, Southerland’s ability to shoot from long range spread the Bulldogs’ defense out.

Those gaps allowed Joseph to knife inside for his layup while Southerland simply hit shots over smaller defenders.

‘We become a little bit of a better offensive team with James in there, especially when he is making shots like he did today,’ Jardine said. ‘He spreads the floor, and you have to guard him.’

The Bulldogs made a last-ditch effort to close the gap in the final two minutes. A quick 7-2 run cut the lead to just three with 1:04 to go, but Syracuse hit its free throws to move on and advance.

UNC Asheville’s J.P. Primm and head coach Eddie Biedenbach grudgingly took the podium after the game, in visible pain after what almost was. Both expressed their feelings that the Bulldogs were the better team Thursday.

In the Syracuse locker room, Triche said that was certainly possible. Fair acknowledged it wasn’t even close to SU’s best effort.

But the bottom line on Thursday was that SU came away with the victory by scoring points when it had to. And Boeheim echoed that concept.

‘I don’t think luck had anything to do with this game today,’ he said. ‘And I think the better team won.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on March 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13