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No. 1 stunner: BC knocks off Syracuse in OT

Feb 20, 2014 - 4:59 AM Syracuse, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Syracuse's dream of an undefeated season came to an improbable end Wednesday at the hands of Boston College.

Patrick Heckmann converted a go-ahead reverse layup with under a minute remaining in overtime, and the Eagles toppled the top-ranked Orange 62-59 in front of a stunned Carrier Dome crowd.

The Orange (25-1, 12-1 ACC) had escaped squeakers over Pittsburgh and NC State last week, but Wednesday's slow start coupled with Boston College getting hot from behind the arc finally proved too much to overcome.

Wichita State is the only undefeated program remaining in Division I.

Olivier Hanlan led Boston College (7-19, 3-10) with 20 points, and the Eagles, who came in second-to-last in the ACC, snapped a five-game skid with their first win over a No. 1 ranked team since upsetting North Carolina on Jan. 4, 2009.

C.J. Fair finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds to pace Syracuse, which shot just 32.3 percent from the floor and squandered two chances at pulling out another nail-biter in regulation.

"We're just not hitting shots and not playing well on offense," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. "We should have two or three more losses in the last three games."

Much like the mismatched uniforms they were wearing, the Orange were out of sorts from the opening tip, perhaps looking ahead to this Saturday's showdown against No. 5 Duke on Saturday.

They were nevertheless ahead by 13 early in the second half before the Eagles found their stroke from 3-point range.

Over a five-minute span, Hanlan connected on three of BC's five triples to cut into the deficit, and another 3 by Joe Rahon followed by two inside buckets from Ryan Anderson gave Boston College the lead, 43-41, with seven minutes remaining.

It stayed tight from there, and it was even at 50-50 after Jerami Grant and Hanlan traded baskets near the final minute.

On the final possession of regulation, both Tyler Ennis and Rakeem Christmas missed decent looks in the lane for Syracuse, and 3-pointers by Hanlan and Heckmann gave the Eagles the early lead in overtime.

Ennis knotted things again, 56-56, with a fastbreak layup, and the freshman star split a pair at the foul line with 1:12 remaining to give the Orange a short-lived lead.

Heckmann answered with the deciding bucket, as he went backdoor and finished off Anderson's nice feed with a reverse layup in traffic with 43.8 seconds on the clock.

After Fair missed a runner in the lane, Lonnie Jackson made two successful trips to the foul line around a Christmas tip-in, leaving the Orange one final chance at sending the game to an extra five minutes.

Syracuse was out of punches, however, as Trevor Cooney's NBA-range try was off the mark and the rebound was knocked away from Ennis.

Neither team played well offensively in the first half. Boston College made just 30 percent of its shots and turned the ball over 12 times, and yet the Eagles were still within striking distance, 25-17, heading into the break.

That's because Syracuse was just as erratic out of the gate. The Orange needed over 5 1/2 minutes to make their first field goal and were only leading by one, 18-17, before reeling off seven straight points to end the half.

Syracuse stretched its lead to 13 when a Cooney 3-pointer and a Fair reverse layup opened the second half.

Game Notes

This was Boston College's first win at the Carrier Dome since Mar. 3, 2002 ... Nine of the Eagles' 11 3-pointers came after halftime ... Syracuse forced 17 turnovers and only committed seven ... Anderson pulled down a game-high 14 points to go with nine points ... Ennis finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists. .