DURHAM, N.C. — Michael Gbinije raised both his arms up in the air. Mike Krzyzewski flung his fist in no apparent direction, pleading for a foul that would never come. The screaming Cameron Crazies that had willed Duke almost all the way back from an eight-point deficit were silent except for one blue-painted fan who shouted, “you suck” at the referees.

It was all in a split second — frenetic and fast — but etched as the most important win of Syracuse’s season. Nine days before, a loss dropped SU to 0-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, one away from the worst conference start in program history.

But in that one moment, not even a second after the backboard light went red, a season once teetering on the brink of being lost found its reset button.

“I’m still stuck on this game,” Gbinije said with a smile. “Just reflecting.”

Syracuse got its first win at Cameron Indoor Stadium over Duke as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Blue Devils lost their third straight for the first time in nine years. The Orange won just its second game on the road in six tries. On Monday, Syracuse (13-7, 3-4 ACC) put the past in the past, and restarted its season with a 64-62 win over No. 20 Duke (14-5, 3-3) to win its third straight conference game.

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MORE COVERAGE

• Michael Gbinije battles foul trouble and steers Syracuse during 2nd half in win
• What we learned from Syracuse basketball’s 64-62 win against Duke
• Tyler Roberson has historic rebounding night at Cameron Indoor Stadium

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Tyler Roberson willed his way on the glass, grabbing a Cameron Indoor-record 20 boards. Syracuse hit 11 3s, each more cold-blooded than the last. Four players finished with exactly 14 points, and everyone in SU’s tight rotation played a part.

“It is a great game and it is a great place to play,” Boeheim said. “… You are going to have crazy things happen, and that is why you just play through it.”

Syracuse played from behind six times on Monday night. The first comeback finished with a fast-break layup from Gbinije to knot the score at 16 in the first half. The fourth came on a long 3 from Malachi Richardson early in the second half in front of the SU bench to piggy back a transition 3 from Cooney just 37 seconds before. The final comeback seemed cemented as Gbinije’s 3 from the top of the key put the Orange up 59-51, silencing his old home crowd to its quietest murmur of the night.

SU had witnessed its season begin to collapse in the weeks prior. No rebounding against Wisconsin. No shooting against St. John’s. Poor late-game turnovers in a loss to Pittsburgh and an Orange team that looked fatigued by the time Miami finished a late second-half comeback to start the new year.

Syracuse battled back to relevancy by battling back against Duke. It didn’t erase the futility of its past six weeks, it just ended it.

“We lost all those games in the ACC, we knew it was still early in conference play,” Roberson said. “We stayed calm, and now good things are happening.”

Syracuse saw its lead evaporating. Derryck Thornton hit a 3, and then Brandon Ingram tipped in a fourth-chance opportunity. Marshall Plumlee made it a one-point game with 34 seconds left and Gbinije missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Blue Devils had the ball with an opportunity to win the game.

Everything had a chance to go back to the way it had been. The same disappointment that welled up in Trevor Cooney after SU lost to Miami, when he questioned how it was possible for his team to hit that type of drought to start the ACC season. The same oh-so-close, but not close enough moment when North Carolina was just too much for Syracuse to handle. It was all right there, ready to happen again.

But this time, Grayson Allen’s wild layup never hit the rim. Syracuse got the ball back, and the 2.1 tedious seconds before the win served only build up drama for a moment that deserves every bit of it. The buzzer went off, and everyone besides the Orange bench couldn’t believe it. But it was their moment to relish.

“No one said anything,” Cooney said. “We were just happy that it was over. It felt good when that time went off and the game was over.”

Sam Blum is a Senior Staff Writer  at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at sblum@syr.edu or @SamBlum3.

Published on January 18, 2016 at 11:19 pm