SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Massachusetts found its shooting touch in
the nick of time, and now the amazing Minutemen are headed to the
NIT semifinals.
Dante Milligan slammed a two-handed dunk off a feed from Chris
Lowe with 28 seconds left to give Massachusetts the lead for good
as the Minutemen rallied from 15 points down over the final eight
minutes and stunned Syracuse 81-77 on Tuesday night.
No team had beaten Syracuse twice in the Carrier Dome in the
same season until the Minutemen found their long-range eye in the
second half. They hit 9-of-16 from beyond the arc to rally from a
43-24 halftime deficit.
"I told our guys at halftime I wasn't really happy,"
Massachusetts coach Travis Ford said. "I told them, 'Get your
heads up. We're lucky we're only down 19.' That was the worst half
of basketball we've played all year. But being down 19 wasn't a
problem. The way we play, 19 points wasn't a problem."
Massachusetts (24-10) trailed by as many as 22 with 14:38 to
play, but a 3-pointer from left wing by Etienne Brower just over a
minute later began the winning surge as the Minutemen pressed the
undermanned Orange.
"We just knew we had to play together when we were down," said
Ricky Harris, who led UMass with 23 points. "When we started
making the run, we saw they were fatigued. They started to yell at
each other and complain to each other, but we just stayed together
on the same page and that helped us come back."
The top-seeded Orange (21-14) were coming off an impressive
88-72 win at home over Maryland last Wednesday and were intent on
erasing their first home loss of the season to UMass back in
November.
Instead, the Orange self-destructed much as they did when they
squandered an 11-point lead in the final 4 minutes and lost a
critical home game to Pittsburgh just over three weeks ago.
"We gave up too many 3s," said freshman forward Donte Greene,
who finished with 18 points. "We'd miss a layup and they come down
and get a 3. You can lose a 20- or 30-point lead like that. It's
real easy to come back."
Brower had 19 points, Milligan had 13 points and 11 rebounds,
Luke Bonner had 13 points, Gary Forbes had nine points, and Lowe
finished with 11 assists.
Arinze Onuaku had 20 points to lead Syracuse, Jonny Flynn had 14
and Scoop Jardine 12.
Massachusetts made its Carrier Dome debut a memorable one in
November with a stunning 107-100 victory, the most points allowed
by Syracuse in the Carrier Dome since it opened in 1980. The
Minutemen may have topped it in this one.
After Flynn stole the ball and fed Jardine for a fast-break
layup to give the Orange a 54-32 lead with 14:38 left, UMass began
its comeback in earnest.
Brower, who had hit 50 percent of his 3-pointers over the
previous 18 games, swished a pair in a 24-second span. UMass then
took advantage of turnovers by Greene and Paul Harris, with
Milligan converting a hook and tip-in to move UMass within 54-42
with 12:20 left.
The Minutemen, who overcame a 12-point deficit to win the
November game, weren't done firing yet. Brower hit another 3 and
Ricky Harris swished a pair of 3s to pull UMass within 64-55 at
8:55.
A dunk and long baseline jumper by Greene and a layup high off
the glass by Flynn gave Syracuse a 70-56 edge just over a minute
later.
Unfazed, Brower, Bonner and Ricky Harris each hit 3-pointers,
Harris's from the left corner making it 74-69 with 3:45 left.
"It hurts a team when you think you have the momentum back and
the other team goes down and scores," said Brower, who was
5-for-10 on 3s. "We never feel like we're out of a game."
After Greene missed a pair of free throws, Milligan hit a follow
and Ricky Harris drained a 3 from the left corner to bring UMass
within 77-76 with 53 seconds left.
Greene lost the ball out of bounds to set up Milligan's go-ahead
dunk. Milligan then blocked Greene along the baseline, Flynn lost
the ball on a drive in the lane, and Ricky Harris made a pair of
free throws with 4.4 seconds left to complete the comeback.
"Since day one, our goal was to get to Madison Square Garden,"
said Milligan, who also had three blocks. "It's finally coming
true. This game shows how tough we are mentally and physically."
Massachusetts, who will play either Arizona State or Florida on
April 1 in the semifinals, now is 4-0 against Syracuse coach Jim
Boeheim, making the Minutemen the only team the Hall of Famer has
coached at least two games against and hasn't beaten.
Boeheim lamented what could have been. The Orange missed plenty
of easy chances that in the end doomed them.
"We just missed too many shots around the basket," Boeheim
said. "There's no excuse for that. When a team presses you and
gambles like they did, you've got to score and we just didn't."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)