NEW YORK – On the biggest stage of all stages, Paul Harris and Demetris Nichols nearly brought Syracuse back from the dead. Again.

For the second straight game, it wasn’t meant to be for the Orange.

SU used a 12-0 run late in the game to come close, but after building up a 13-point second-half lead, Oklahoma State outlasted Syracuse, 72-68, at the Jimmy V Classic Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

No. 21 Syracuse (7-2) has lost two games in a row, both to ranked opponents. The Orange fell to then-No. 17 Wichita State Saturday night, 64-61, after a furious late comeback fell short.

‘We made great effort to come from 10 down against two very good teams,’ head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘That is a real good, positive thing. But we’re just making too many bad turnovers on the offensive end of the court and we’re going to have to get better there.’

The Orange committed 23 turnovers and was out-rebounded, 33-23.

Still, Syracuse was within one point of tying the game after a Harris driving lay-up with 49 seconds left. After an Oklahoma State timeout, Jameson Curry nailed a 3-pointer at the top of the arc to put the Cowboys back up by four and effectively end the game.

Nichols scored 26 points for Syracuse, two short of his career high. His nine field goals tied a career best. Terrence Roberts scored 14 and Harris added 11 points – nine in the second half.

Harris scored those nine points during the final 3:45 of the game. After his dunk brought SU within seven, Nichols buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut the Cowboys’ lead to three, 67-64.

It was too little too late, though.

‘We’re just not playing hard the whole game,’ Nichols said. ‘Our turnovers really, really hurt us. We have to learn how to take care of the ball and execute the offense.’

The Orange made eight turnovers in a span of 10 crucial second-half possessions and No. 22 Oklahoma State (10-0) took full advantage. The Cowboys scored eight points off those turnovers to take a 10-point lead, 56-46, with 9:22 remaining.

‘This is more turnovers than we’ve had in … that I can remember,’ Boeheim said. ‘Let’s put it that way. Maybe as a team more than we’ve ever had.

‘You can’t give points to a good team.’

SU also didn’t help itself on the glass. Nichols, who averages six rebounds per game, had only two rebounds. In 16 minutes, Matt Gorman tallied just one board.

But it was starting center Darryl Watkins who was the biggest culprit of ineffectiveness on the rebounds.

‘Our center played 26 minutes and got one rebound,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’re just not going to win games like that.’

The Oklahoma State lead was as large as 13 points with just under four minutes left, when Mario Boggan took advantage of one Syracuse turnover and made an uncontested lay-up to put the Cowboys up, 67-54. Boggan had a team-leading 21 points and eight rebounds for Oklahoma State.

‘The penetration from the top really killed us,’ Roberts said. ‘They had guys helping out and they were active in the back of the zone. (Boggan) did a good job. You give him credit, but there are a lot of things we’ve done wrong.’

SU kept the game close in the first frame with better ball handling. The Orange committed only six turnovers in the first half and shot 48 percent from the field. However, Oklahoma State had eight second-chance points off of six offensive rebounds.

The game featured 12 lead changes in the first half, fueled by hot shooting on both sides. OSU shot 52 percent from the field. The Orange played from behind for much of the first half. Its biggest lead of the game was three points at 12-9.

‘Right now we’re just making too many mistakes on offense, two games in a row now,’ Boeheim said. ‘We’re just not cohesive on the offensive side.’

Published on December 5, 2006 at 12:00 pm