Finally, St. Francis unraveled. Thirty-nine minutes of heart-wrenching, November-upset scare later, Syracuse finally forced two turnovers. Jerami Grant finally made two free throws.

The Terriers, who upset Miami (Fla.) 66-62 in their opener, nearly pulled off another mammoth win. Instead, Grant and Michael Gbinije recorded steals in the final 1:02 and the No. 9 Orange escaped with a 56-50 victory in the Carrier Dome on Monday.

Three times Syracuse pushed its lead as wide as eight in the first half, and three times St. Francis battled back. The Terriers refused to be bullied around.

Coming out of the locker room at halftime, the St. Francis players chanted “ACC, ACC.”

They’d been there before, and they made sure SU knew with a 9-2 run to open the second stanza.

Jalen Cannon swished a jumper before a monstrous Grant block turned into an Anthony White 3-pointer. Then Cannon beat DaJuan Coleman off the dribble to make it 35-32 with 15:28 to play.

When the Orange turned to ACC preseason player of the year Fair, the Terriers turned to Lowell Ulmer. He stuck with Fair on a spin in one possession. Tied him up on the next. Then drew a charge with 12:03 left.

Ben Mockford swished a 3-pointer to push St. Francis’ lead to 43-40 nearly five minutes later before turning toward the SU student section and pounding his chest.

About a minute later, Gbinije lay on his back with his hands on his head. Jim Boeheim stood on the sidelines with his hands on his head.

The previously silenced student section erupted with chants of “bullsh*t” after Gbinije was called for a block with 6:22 left. Syracuse already trailed 45-42.

Nothing could go right for the Orange. At that point C.J. Fair was 2-for-12. Rakeem Christmas looked lost in the paint. St. Francis was shooting about 45 percent from the field and matching the Orange on the glass.

The minutes dragged on as Mockford swished a corner 3 and Boeheim turned back and forth on the sideline.

It wasn’t until Grant jumped into Wayne Martin’s passing lane with 62 seconds left and lofted a pass ahead to Gbinije who laid it in that Syracuse regained the lead at 52-50.

A White turnover led to two Grant free throws before Fair sealed it at the foul line with two more.

A Christmas block with 15 seconds left sent the crowd into an uproar as the Orange eluded what would’ve been its worst loss in recent memory.

Published on November 18, 2013 at 9:48 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1