Syracuse comebacks to beat Georgetown 86-79 in OT

WASHINGTON -- It was a lot like old times Saturday, with Jim Boeheim and Patrick Ewing facing each other for the first time as opposing coaches in one of college basketball's best rivalries.

There was, however, one noticeable difference.

"There wasn't any blood on the floor," Boeheim said.

Tyus Battle had 29 points, Oshae Brissett had 25 points and 14 rebounds, and Syracuse overcame a 13-point second half deficit to defeat Georgetown 86-79 in overtime.

Frank Howard added 19 points for Syracuse (9-1), which made 10 of 23 3-pointers on the afternoon in staging a fierce comeback over the final 10 minutes of regulation.

"The 3-point line, usually it works the other way against us but today the 3-point line worked for us which is highly unusual," Boeheim said.

Jessie Govan had 21 points and eight rebounds and Marcus Derrickson had 14 points and eight rebounds for Georgetown (8-1), which entered Saturday as one of six undefeated teams in Division I. Jagan Mosely had 20 points off the bench for the Hoyas.

Brissett had just one point at halftime but struck for 24 after the break and finished four for seven from behind the arc. Coming into the game Brissett was shooting 24 percent on 3-pointers and had made just nine this season.

"I just had to try and find different spots to get open and I was able to do that in the second half," Brissett said.

Battle took over in overtime by scoring eight points, including a long 3-pointer on the first possession that put the Orange on top for good at 72-69.

Syracuse ended a two-game losing streak to former Big East foe Georgetown and last beat the Hoyas on the road in 2011.

"It's a game we should have won," said Ewing, who went 8-3 as a player against Syracuse in the 1980s. "When you're up double figures, especially going down the stretch, you can't make the mistakes that we made."

Both teams had 16 turnovers.

Howard stripped Govan and hit a layup with one minute remaining to make it 69-69. Syracuse missed three shots at the end of regulation.

Mosely hit two free throws to give Georgetown its largest lead of 53-40 but Syracuse used a 5-0 spurt to pull back within eight after Brissett's 3-pointer with 9:55 remaining.

Georgetown led 64-57 with 5:23 left when Derrickson was called for a charge and fouled out. The Hoyas were outscored 29-13 the rest of the way.

Neither team led by more than five points in the first half. Both teams shot 37 percent (10 for 27) from the field.

"This was a great game today, it was like a firecracker compared to a bomb to those games," Boeheim said when comparing Saturday's game to when he coached against Ewing as a player.

BIG PICTURE

Syracuse: The Orange survived their first road test of the season and won't play again away from home until traveling to South Bend to face Notre Dame on Jan 6. Syracuse had gone 1-1 in neutral site games in losing to then No. 2 Kansas while defeating former Big East rival Connecticut at Madison Square Garden.

Georgetown: The Hoyas missed on their only chance to pick up a quality nonconference win. Georgetown's previous opponents had a combined record of 24-64. The Hoyas last defeated Syracuse three straight times between 2000 and 2002.

UP NEXT

Syracuse: The Orange return to the Carrier Dome to face two in-state foes next week -- Buffalo on Tuesday and St. Bonaventure on Friday.

Georgetown: Two more games before the start of Big East play: North Texas on Wednesday and Alabama A&M on Dec. 23.

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