• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Porter, Georgetown squeeze Orange's home streak

Feb 24, 2013 - 1:22 AM Syracuse, NY (Sports Network) - Otto Porter Jr. poured in a career-high 33 points, as No. 11 Georgetown ended Syracuse's 38-game home winning streak with a 57-46 triumph over the eighth-ranked Orange Saturday at the Carrier Dome.

Porter did it all for the Hoyas, with the sophomore swingman connecting on 12- of-19 from the field, including 5-of-10 from long range, to go with eight rebounds and five steals in Georgetown's ninth straight victory.

"It was special. That's the only way to categorize it," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said of Porter's performance. "You saw the show that I saw. To play up here against that opponent, that's what players do, and he's a special player."

The Hoyas (21-4, 11-3 Big East) now own a one-game lead over Syracuse and Marquette for the top spot in the conference after the 17th-ranked Golden Eagles were knocked off by Villanova on Saturday.

Syracuse (22-5, 10-4) received 13 points and seven boards apiece from C.J. Fair and James Southerland, but it wasn't enough to keep the nation's longest home win streak alive -- a run which began after a loss to the Hoyas on Feb. 9, 2011.

"The games that we've lost we have struggled shooting the basketball and today is no exception," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "I just thought the game got away from us early."

Syracuse held a 12-4 lead just under eight minutes in after Brandon Triche and Southerland sank back-to-back 3-pointers, but the Orange managed just one field goal over the next nine-plus minutes and the Hoyas took advantage.

Porter knocked down a jumper to spark a 17-3 Georgetown surge that ensued, then later capped it by scoring the final seven points to provide the visitors with a 21-15 lead with 3:18 left in the half.

Syracuse had the final say in the half, however, as the Orange scored the final eight points of the frame -- including a Southerland 3-pointer with 16 seconds left that sent the home team into the break holding a 23-21 edge.

Syracuse's lead was one, 27-26, five minutes into the second half before Porter buried back-to-back triples around a Triche layup to spark a 13-4 Georgetown run that D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera capped with a trey of his own to give the visitors a 39-31 cushion with 11:26 to play.

The Orange answered with a quick 6-2 spurt to pull within four, but Porter responded with a four-point play to make it 45-37 with just under five minutes left.

A Jerami Grant free throw brought Syracuse within seven, 49-42, with 1:36 to play before Porter provided the final dagger. He muscled through two defenders in the lane, finished a tough layup, and knocked down the subsequent free throw to make it a double-digit margin with 1:21 left.

Georgetown was able to close out the contest by going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe over the final minute.

Game Notes

The attendance at the Carrier Dome was 35,012, making it the largest on-campus crowd for a basketball game in NCAA history ... Former Syracuse forward and current New York Knick Carmelo Anthony had his number retired in a halftime ceremony ... Syracuse and Georgetown will meet in the regular-season finale for both in Washington on March 9, which will be the final scheduled meeting between the schools as Big East foes with Syracuse headed to the ACC next season ... Syracuse owns a 48-40 advantage in the all-time series ... Triche finished with 10 points for the Orange ... Smith-Rivera finished with seven points for the Hoyas.