Amid the hoopla and grandeur of Jim Boeheim’s 900^th career victory, Syracuse and Detroit played a game for 40 minutes. And while for most of Monday night, it appeared to be a formality leading up to the celebration, the Orange nearly lost a regular-season nonconference game for the first time since 2008.

The Orange dominated for 35 minutes, taking a commanding lead into the locker room at halftime and holding onto it for most of the second half. Then it nearly slipped away.

“I think this game feels more like a loss,” Boeheim said. “Which is good to get one that feels like it but isn’t.”

Detroit went on a 16-0 run lasting nearly five minutes to turn a 19-point deficit into a one-possession game with 29 seconds remaining. In that stretch, Syracuse turned the ball over four times and committed five fouls, accentuating a game where the Orange finished with 18 turnovers. But Michael Carter-Williams made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 27 seconds to help Syracuse (10-0) eek out a 72-68 victory over a feisty Detroit (6-5) squad.

Players insisted after the game that they did not get caught up in the moment and occasion. They said they simply stopped executing down the stretch.

“I think when we saw we were up 20, we started laying back a little bit, which we can’t do,” Carter-Williams said. “Which we won’t do in the future. We’ve got to learn from this.”

For most of the game, Syracuse blew out Detroit, cruising to a 40-21 halftime lead. Carter-Williams assisted on three of Syracuse’s first five baskets, the third coming on a pretty bounce pass across the paint from left to right that Rakeem Christmas received and dunked, putting the Orange ahead 12-6.

Later, Carter-Williams fed James Southerland for back-to-back 3-pointers. On the second, Carter-Williams pushed the ball to the arc in transition, then turned and handed off the ball to Southerland trailing behind — and he nailed a backbreaker to put SU ahead 27-13.

Southerland made 5-of-6 3-pointers in the first half and already had 16 of his 22 points going into the break.

The first 10 minutes of the second half appeared to put a malaise over the entire Carrier Dome, from the players to the fans. The crowd was quiet as Syracuse never extended its lead but kept it steady. SU reached its largest lead, 61-39, with 9:30 to play.

“I think we really, at that point, thought that we had control of the game,” Boeheim said, “and it’s a good lesson to learn: You never have control of a game.”

Around that time, Dome workers began handing out props for the postgame celebration — miniature Boeheim heads on popsicle sticks, as the public address announcer informed fans of a ceremony following the game.

It was nearly a jinx.

Detroit guard Jason Calliste fed Doug Anderson for an alley-oop to bring Detroit within 67-52 with 4:20 to play. Syracuse forward DaJuan Coleman grabbed the ball to inbound it and immediately turned it over — Boeheim said it was a freshman taking the ball out of bounds when he was not supposed to.

After five straight points from Juwan Howard Jr., Anderson slammed home another dunk to bring the Titans within single digits for the first time since Syracuse went up by 11 with 8:09 left in the first half.

Boeheim called a timeout, hoping the team would regroup and go on a run to put the game away.

Instead, the Titans kept streaking. Triche committed two fouls in 19 seconds, and his second put Howard at the line in a bonus situation. Detroit made 5-of-6 free throws in a one-minute span to bring the game within 67-64.

“We were just discombobulated and that wasn’t Syracuse basketball,” Carter-Williams said.

Syracuse did not score a field goal in the final 5:36, but put the game away thanks to Carter-Williams’ free throws. While Detroit answered each of his made shots at the line with buckets at the other end, his last free throw, with 1.2 seconds left, gave SU an insurmountable 72-68 lead.

“You would rather it be a 20-point win, other than a four or five-point win,” Triche said. “But all that counts is a win. (Boeheim) was able to get to 900, which is our 10^th win, and that’s all that matters.”

Published on December 18, 2012 at 2:59 am

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr