BUFFALO - It was a game for fans of rebounding.
For 37 minutes, there was hardly anything crisp or elegant about the third-round slugfest between Syracuse and Dayton. The players smirked at their own offensive ineffectiveness. The fans groaned.
Yet the game remained tight, and this being the N.C.A.A. tournament, drama quietly surged behind all the missed layups and 3-pointers. Suddenly Syracuse - unbeaten through its first 25 games this season - was in a battle, trailing Dayton, the 11th seed in the South, with only seconds left.
Tyler Ennis, the Orange's cool-headed freshman point guard, who had taken the previous seven field-goal attempts for the team, missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Dayton won, 55-53, to advance to the Round of 16.
It was the second consecutive game in which the Flyers led late and watched as their opponent missed a go-ahead shot at the buzzer. Ohio State's Aaron Craft was the unfortunate one on Thursday.
But Dayton (25-10) has surely made the most of its first N.C.A.A. tournament appearance since 2009. The Flyers led throughout the second half in a grinding match with third-seeded Syracuse (28-6), a Final Four team a year ago.
Dayton had a 6-point lead with 49 seconds remaining, but consecutive layups by Ennis managed to cut the advantage to 1. Then Syracuse's press forced Jordan Sibert to travel with 13.8 seconds left, giving the Orange another chance. But Ennis's pull-up jumper from 18 feet missed with 6.5 seconds left. After Dyshawn Pierre converted one of two free-throws, Syracuse had one last opportunity. Ennis pushed the ball up the court, momentarily losing his dribble, and heaved up a shot at the buzzer. It lipped out.
At the start of the game, Dayton worked patiently on offense, biding its time against Syracuse's zone and attacking the offensive glass, and the Orange's 2-for-8 start shooting the ball didn't help matters. The Flyers grabbed an 11-4 lead.
Then Dayton fell into a pronounced offensive slump in which it did not hit a field goal in almost eight minutes. Syracuse responded with an 11-3 run to take a 17-16 lead with 2 minutes 47 seconds remaining in the first half.
But Syracuse added just two more points before the break and went into the half trailing by 20-18, its lowest scoring output in a half all season - and just the fourth time in 34 games that it trailed at the break.
Both teams were probably looking forward to halftime. They combined to shoot 1 of 10 on 3-point attempts with a total of 15 field goals between them in the first 20 minutes.
Trevor Cooney, a linchpin for Syracuse's offense because of his shooting threat, began 1 for 6 from the field and 0 for 4 from 3-point range. Ennis initially made plays with his passing but hit just two of his first 11 shots.
With a little more than 10 minutes remaining, the Orange trailed, 35-30, but a jumper by Jerami Grant seemed to give them some confidence. They turned up the defensive intensity and, after two more quick buckets, suddenly had the lead again.
It turned out to be short-lived.
Posted by Unknown on Saturday, March 22, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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