New York City — The Syracuse Orange, facing the harsh glare of a quarterfinal upset, showed the ability to come from behind.
Syracuse (31-1) used a late 12-2 run in the final minutes to come away with a 58-55 victory over the Connecticut Huskies in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
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Trailing 47-43 with eight minutes remaining, the Orange rallied past the Huskies.
Dion Waiters came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points for Syracuse. James Southerland, another reserve, broke out of a personal slump to score all 10 of his points in the second half. Southerland hit a pair of 3-pointers to key an 8-0 run in the heart of Syracuse's comeback.
The win gave Syracuse a rare sweep of three games against Connecticut this season.
Syracuse won 85-67 at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 11. The Orange won the second meeting of the year 71-69 at Storrs on Feb. 25.
Syracuse will meet the winner of the Georgetown-Cincinnati game in Fridays semifinals.
Connecticut, the No. 9 seed, beat DePaul and West Virginia to get to the quarterfinals.
The Huskies had won seven straight Big East Tournament games. Connecticut holds the Big East record for most consecutive tournament victories with nine in a row, encompassing the 1998, 1999 and 2000 tournaments.
Syracuse has now beaten Connecticut in five of their last six Big East Tournament meetings.
After trailing 27-24 at the half, UConn came out of the break and out-scored Syracuse 15 to 4 in the first six minutes of the second half to take a 39-31 lead.
Syracuse fell behind 42-34, but scored seven straight points to narrow the margin to one.
Shabazz Napier and Waiters traded buckets. After Napier hit two free throws to put UConn ahead 47-43, Southerland drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to draw the Orange back within one again.
Waiters gave Syracuse a 48-47 lead on a step-back jumper and then Southerland hit the second of his 3-pointers for a 51-47 advantage.
The Orange held on from there, allowing just eight points in the last eight minutes.