SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Jim Boeheim won his first game in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He likely wont rest easy any time soon, though. C.J. Fair scored 15 points, including the go-ahead basket with 4:16 to go, and No. 2 Syracuse rallied late to beat Miami 49-44 on Saturday in the Oranges ACC debut. Syracuse trailed 35-29 nearing the midpoint of the second half of a slow-paced game that featured just three fast-break points -- a 3-pointer by Syracuses Trevor Cooney in the first 5 minutes of play. But with the sharpshooting Cooney suffering through his worst shooting performance of the season, the Orange found a way to prevail in the end by going inside against Miamis matchup zone. "When you get into league play, youre going to have games like this," Boeheim said. "Its not easy. Were going to see this a lot." Syracuse (14-0, 1-0) entered the game as one of seven unbeaten teams remaining in Division I and struggled against Miami (8-6, 0-2), the reigning conference champion. The Hurricanes are the only team in the conference with no returning starters, and they lost their ACC opener 61-60 in overtime to Virginia Tech in early December. On this day, they gave the Orange a game right until the end. A long jumper from the right corner by Rion Brown gave Miami a 35-29 lead with 12:22 remaining and the Hurricanes were executing coach Jim Larranagas game plan nicely, taking time off the clock and preventing the Orange from scoring inside. "They had a real solid matchup zone and we couldnt really get anything going," Fair said. "They got good shots working the shot clock down and made us work on defence. Its tough playing defence that long." Still, Syracuse managed to slowly chip away at the lead. Fairs 3 from the right corner at 11:08 was the Oranges first basket of the second half and narrowed the deficit to 35-32. After two free throws by Davon Reed gave Miami a 40-35 lead, Rakeem Christmas scored twice inside -- on a putback and lefty hook in the lane -- to start a decisive 10-4 Orange run. "When we got down, we just wanted to go back out there and be stronger, make big plays," Christmas said. "It got our team going and we turned up our defence from there. We just came together as a team." Jerami Grant hit a jumper from the free throw line, Fair converted a spinning layup in the lane and Tyler Ennis hit a driving layup to give Syracuse a 43-40 lead with 3:19 left. Syracuse overcame a 25-7 deficit and beat then-No. 8 Villanova by 16 points a week ago, but the Orange struggled to find any rhythm against Miami. With 7:54 left, Cooney was 2 of 11 from the field, all from 3-point range. He entered the game shooting 50 per cent from long range (43 of 86), tops in the ACC. "I got open 3s, they just didnt fall," said Cooney, who finished 2 of 12. "Its tough. You just have to hang strong. It was great to see us hang in there." Miami pulled within 43-42 on a reverse layup by James Kelly with 2:15 left, but Ennis scored again inside, and Cooney and Ennis both hit two free throws in the final minute as the Orange prevailed. "We got a little spread out in the zone," Brown said. "We were so worried about the shooters they got in the lane a couple of times and got some easy layups. We deviated from the game plan just a couple of plays and it showed." Miami, which trailed by four points at halftime, started the second half with a 14-4 run as the Orange missed their first nine shots. Garrius Adams, who led Miami with nine points, and freshman Manu Lecomte hit 3-pointers and Brown hit a jumper from deep in the right corner to key the surge. "The tempo was what we wanted. We needed to keep them on defence," Larranaga said. "Time of possession was very important, almost like a football game. Defensively, we wanted to keep them on the perimeter, and thats the one disappointing part for us. Overall, we had a good defensive game plan and executed it pretty well, but at the end they got some interior baskets and that really hurt us." Cooney finished with 11 points and Ennis had 10 points, seven assists and two turnovers for Syracuse. Forward Dajuan Coleman, who sat out Tuesdays game against Eastern Michigan nursing a sore left knee, dressed and participated in pregame warmups but did not play. Kelly and Lecomte both finished with eight points for Miami, which finished 7 of 19 from 3-point range. The Hurricanes didnt look like the team that went 0 for 15 from 3-point range in opening the season with an overtime loss to St. Francis Brooklyn, a program that hasnt finished over .500 since 2003-04. Facing the vaunted Syracuse zone, the Hurricanes were up for the task, hitting 5 of 11 3-point attempts in the first half. Adams and Lecomte hit from long range on successive possessions late in the period and Miami trailed just 25-21 at halftime. Nick Novak Chargers Jersey . Police leaflets seen by an Associated Press reporter at a central Sochi hotel on Tuesday contain warnings about three potential suicide bombers. A police letter said that one of them, Ruzanna Ibragimova, a 22-year-old widow of an Islamic militant, was at large in Sochi. Kellen Winslow Chargers Jersey .S. Cellular Field on Saturday night, hell not only be returning to where his career began. http://www.chargersjerseysofficialshop.com/black-friday-ryan-mathews-jersey/ . Olivieri, at city hall to help kick off ticket sales for the Aug. 5-24 event to be held in four Canadian cities, said Wednesday that Canada has a new generation of talent on the rise that can make its name just as Sinclair did at the same event in 2002 in Edmonton. Branden Oliver Jersey . This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs. Corey Liuget Jersey .Y. - Henrik Lundqvist wasnt happy going into Game 6 against Montreal.BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Vincent Lecavaliers sore back is getting better. So is his self-confidence. Lecavalier capped a topsy-turvy finish by scoring with 15 seconds left, sending the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. It was his first goal since Nov. 27, a 22-game span that included nine games he missed with a back injury. "It felt good. Theyve been hard to come by since I got back from my injury," Lecavalier said. "Sometimes a goal like that will kind of, I dont want to say jumpstart, but get more confidence and keep going." The goal came during a scramble in the Sabres end and after Lecavalier missed on two other chances in the final 2-plus minutes. After his initial shot just missed the net, teammate Matt Read dug out a loose puck to the left of the Buffalo net and fed Lecavalier, who one-timed a shot from the left circle. The goal capped a furious finish in which the teams traded leads twice by combining to score four times in the final 6:32. Scott Hartnell had a goal and two assists, while Brayden Schenn and Jakub Voracek also scored in helping Philadelphia snap a two-game skid. Wayne Simmonds had two assists for the Flyers (24-19-4), who improved to 8-3 in their past 11 games. It was a game in which the Flyers twice rallied from one-goal deficits, and won for the eighth time this season when trailing in the third period. "Never give up, thats probably the biggest thing," said Hartnell, who has five goals and eight assists in his past 13 games. "We showed a lot of character, especially late there coming back." The Sabres, by comparison, wilted in what proved to be yet another reflection of why the young and patchwork teams NHL-worst record dropped to 13-27-5. Cody Hodgson and Matt DAgostini each had a goal and assist for Buffalo, which had an eight-game home point streak snapped at 6-0-2. Tyler Ennis also scored and Steve Ott set up two for the Sabres. "Missed assignments, not determined enough to battle for the puck, spinning and turning off hits, not getting an inch in the lanes, all of the above," interim coach Ted Nolan said, assessing what went wrong. "We just didnnt do what we were supposed to do at the end.dddddddddddd." Nolan could add undisciplined penalties to the list. The Flyers converted two of six power-play chances, including Hartnells goal that put Philadelphia ahead 3-2 with Buffalos Zenon Konopka off for goalie interference. The Sabres squandered a rare offensive outburst, and blew a chance to win consecutive games for only the third time this season. Buffalo managed three goals in regulation for the first time in 10 games and only the ninth time this season. Buffalo also wasted what was a solid outing by backup goalie Jhonas Enroth, who stopped 29 shots but got little help in front on all four Flyers goals. That included Lecavaliers goal, during which a Sabres defender pushed a Flyers player into Enroth. Enroth did make a highlight-reel save on Claude Giroux 12 minutes into the first period, when he dived to his right and punched his glove out to stop the shot. The goalie also robbed Lecavalier with 2:23 left, when the forwards centring pass from a bad angle struck Sabres defenceman Mike Weber in front. The puck fluttered toward the net before Enroth dropped his stick and managed to smother it in the crease. NOTES: Sabres D Tyler Myers is eligible to return at Toronto on Wednesday after sitting out the third and final game of his suspension for an illegal check to the head of New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus. ... Read returned after missing six games with concussion-like symptoms. ... Sabres President Pat LaFontaine said he thinks the team and rookie centre Mikhail Grigorenko are "on the same page" regarding the 2012 first-round picks development after the player initially balked at reporting to his Canadian junior team in Quebec City last weekend. LaFontaine said Grigorenko needs to develop by continuing to play, which would not have happened if he stayed in Buffalo with the 17-day Olympic break approaching next month. "Were doing what we think is best to develop our players," LaFontaine said. "I really believe under all the circumstances, that (Quebec City) is the best place for him." ... DAgostini earned his 100th career point with an assist on Hodgsons game-opening goal. cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '
