No. 1 Orange Fall to BC in OT

Syracuse suffered its first loss of the season on Wednesday, falling 62-59 in overtime against ACC foe Boston College.

The No. 1 Orange move to 25-1 overall and 12-1 in ACC play heading into this Saturday’s highly anticipated matchup on the road at Duke.

The win moves the Eagles to 7-19 and 3-10 in league play.

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C.J. Fair carried the Orange, scoring 20 points while securing 11 rebounds. Rakeem Christmas added nine points and 11 boards while freshman point guard Tyler Ennis had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Tied at 50 after regulation, the Eagles outscored Syracuse 12-9 in the extra session. Olivier Hanlan and Patrick Heckmann connected from deep --with a Fair jumper sandwiched in between-- to give BC a 56-52 lead with 2:55 left.

Two free throws by Christmas and a layup by Ennis knotted the game at 56 with 2:12 remaining. Ennis then converted on one of two free throws to put ‘Cuse up one, but Heckmann answered with a layup to put the Eagles back up one with 44 seconds left.

With 29 seconds remaining Fair had a shot to give Syracuse the lead, but his jumper was off the mark.

The Eagles swelled the lead to three after two free throws but Christmas hit another layup to pull the Orange back within one at 60-59 with 21 seconds left.

BC hit two more from the charity stripe before Trevor Cooney’s attempt to tie the game from three was no good with just seconds remaining.

The Orange held a 25-17 advantage after the first half as Fair put in 12 points in the first 20 minutes.

The first half was a struggle offensively for both teams, as the Orange shot just 35 percent. They were also 0-6 from three-point range in the half, while the Eagles shot just 30 percent from the field.

In the second half, Boston College was 7-12 from beyond the arc. The Eagles shot better than 50 percent from the floor to get back into the game in the second stanza while the Orange shot just 30 percent.

Syracuse will play Duke at 7 p.m. on Saturday in its first trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium as a member of the ACC.