Syracuse survives

PITTSBURGH — Another three dropped out of the basketball heavens into the hoop and Scoop Jardine had this exasperated, who-are-these-guys look on his face. There were still 16 minutes left in the 1-16 game, the ultimate mismatch, 108-0 over 27 NCAA Tournaments.

Syracuse looked out of sorts. It had been just the seventh No. 1 seed to trail at halftime against a No. 16. And UNC-Asheville, outsized at every position, was still playing like it not only wanted to win, but expected it.

Asheville played a winning game, but the vaunted Syracuse defense, confused for much of the game, finally got enough stops down the stretch to get a lead. And the Orange staggered to the finish line, a 72-65 winner and a date Saturday with Kansas State, who beat Southern Miss, 70-64.

With the exception of the sections in Orange, the Consol Energy Center crowd had lined up firmly behind the underdogs. The other teams’ fans wanted the No. 1 seed out. The locals had zero empathy for their Big East and soon-to-be ACC brethren. It was nearly unanimous.

They wanted Asheville, the team that was playing with far more passion, getting most of the loose balls and hitting the requisite number of threes that a huge underdog must.

One day, the 16 will win this game. Just not this day.

It was relief to them, a disappointment to just about everybody in the arena.

“I don’t think it’s the whole world (rooting against ‘Cuse),”’ coach Jim Boeheim said. “Three quarters maybe. I think there’s some people in China that aren’t upset with us.”

A very fortunate out-of-bounds call went Syracuse’s way with 35 seconds left and the Orange leading 66-63. The ball appeared to go off Brandon Triche. It looked like the wrong call, but there could have been a foul on Asheville that went uncalled on the play.

“First of all, all the noise about the ball going out of bounds, I mean, Triche got pushed. That’s why it went out of bounds,” Boeheim said. “Maybe they missed the out of bounds, they missed the foul call. Those things equal out.”

“The out of bounds is not reviewable and it is not a play we would discuss,” official Ed Corbett told a pool reporter.

Syracuse’s struggles went beyond any controversial call.

This was about more than defensive anchor Fab Melo. He is ineligible and definitely missed, but the ‘Cuse offense was really the problem. They seemed lost against Asheville’s changing defenses, especially their zone, strange when zone is Syracuse’s base defense.

“We haven’t attacked zones even though we play it and work against it every day,” Boeheim said.

Jardine (11 points) was big late. When Asheville was called for being in the lane too soon on a missed free throw, Jardine, a 49.1 percent free-throw shooter on the season, got a reprieve and did not miss.

“It was a clear (lane) violation,” Cooper said. “The player released early, before the ball hit the rim. We’ve since watched the replay 20 times and it was the right call.”

Dion Waiters (12 points) was good early, but far from satisfied.

“The clock is ticking,”’ Waiters said. “You only get one shot at this. I didn’t want to go home early.”

Rakeem Christmas, the third Philly guy in the rotation, got the start for Melo. He had his moments, but did not look like the defensive presence the more experienced Melo provided.

“The fact that this game was close had nothing — nothing — to do with the center position,” Boeheim insisted.

“We battled the best that we could,” Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach said. “These guys are great. They deserved a better fate than they had today.”

His team made some very deep threes and some very acrobatic lane shots.

“They made shots early, got some confidence,” Jardine said. “They were shooting from anywhere. When you get a team like that, we just have to believe in our zone, believe in ourselves.”

Down the stretch, Syracuse had just enough.

“They gave me a second chance to make the (foul) shot and I made it,” Jardine said.