Eighteen seconds stood between Syracuse and fixing its flaw. Eighteen seconds that, for the first two conference games, were used to dribble out the clock. But these 18 seconds, with Malachi Richardson set to take the second of two foul shots that would put the Orange up four, could be used for validation.

After letting close games slip away late against Pittsburgh and Miami, Syracuse had Clemson where it didn’t have the others. A see-saw game down the stretch tilted in the Orange’s favor. Exactly what Mike Hopkins said was needed to rectify a rocky start to conference play.

“I thought they executed really well late in the game,” Hopkins said, “and we had a chance to win.”

But with Richardson missing the back end, the Tigers had a chance to tie. Syracuse didn’t capitalize on its chance. Clemson did.

Gabe DeVoe sunk a 3-pointer from the corner with 5.6 seconds left and Michael Gbinije missed the entire rim on his last-second heave. Hopkins said the plan was to foul under eight seconds. Gbinije thought the decision was to play straight-up. What Hopkins called a “miscommunication” set up an overtime period that, like regulation, ended with a hectic sequence.

This time, it was Syracuse (10-6, 0-3 Atlantic Coast) hoping to earn possession as the referees stood at the scorer’s table and a meaningless second remaining. But in a 74-73 overtime loss to Clemson (9-6, 2-1) in the Carrier Dome on Tuesday night, hope is all it was.

“We just couldn’t finish,” Trevor Cooney said. “It’s tough, it really is, because we had the game.”

For over 25 minutes spanning both halves, Syracuse trailed. Every time Clemson sliced through the zone, ending in a thunderous slam or backdoor lay-in, the Orange’s counter was held at bay. A direct, feed-the-big-man approach in the first half dissipated as Clemson methodically swung the ball around the key before intricately finding space in the low block late in the shot clock.

And for every dent Syracuse put in Clemson’s lead, the Tigers flattened it back out. Two Richardson free throws met with a Donte Grantham slam. A Cooney 3 countered by an Avry Holmes deep ball.

“It seemed like they just had an answer for everything,” Hopkins said.

When Richardson hit a 3 from the corner with 1:02 left, Syracuse led by four. The freshman fell back into a standing SU bench before running up the court with arms fully flexed at his sides, his own screams drowned out by the ones around him.

What Syracuse didn’t have in two games prior was in its grasp. Even when Landry Nnoko’s pair of free throws cut the lead to two, Syracuse still held on to what had escaped it. A tightly-knit game late was 18 seconds away from sending Hopkins back to the role of assistant coach with a record better than .500. Eighteen seconds away from giving Syracuse a much-needed first win in the ACC.

In that huddle, Gbinije told everyone not to allow a shot to be taken from beyond the arc. The ball found Nnoko in the paint with just under 10 seconds left and the senior’s directions still intact.

“A two can hurt us a whole lot less than the 3,” Gbinije said.

But Syracuse collapsed and Tyler Lydon’s outstretched hand was too slow to DeVoe’s release as the game headed to overtime.

“We just can’t give up 3s,” Gbinije said.

After the game, players barely mentioned the extra period aside from the last sequence when Cooney stole an inbounds pass and missed a potential game-winning 3.

It almost didn’t seem like the additional five minutes mattered to the outcome. Syracuse players, and Hopkins, harped on the final seconds of regulation and a period it had faltered in before, now improving upon. Just not enough.

Boeheim is officially back as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday morning. Hopkins heads back to the role he’s held for 20 years. Syracuse is returned to normalcy but with a steep climb ahead.

“You got to close,” Hopkins said. “You got to close the game.”

Published on January 5, 2016 at 10:41 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman