Brandon Triche started down the court, both hands out, wishing he had the previous play back. The senior guard tried to sneak a bounce pass to teammate Michael Carter-Williams across the court on an inbounds play, but it didn’t reach him and Louisville’s Luke Hancock snatched it away.

Regret immediately overcame Triche as he gave away a second-straight possession, this time with the game tied. Triche’s lament for his late-game mistakes worsened when Hancock nailed a 3 on the ensuing possession to put the Cardinals ahead for good.

The late turnovers erased a valiant comeback and doomed No. 12 Syracuse in a 58-53 loss to No. 10 Louisville (24-5, 12-4 Big East) in front of 31,173 at the Carrier Dome on Saturday. The Orange (22-7, 10-6) overcame a seven-point deficit with less than six minutes to play but unraveled in the final two minutes. Triche, who’s been steady all season in the SU backcourt, committed three turnovers in the decisive span of the Orange’s third straight loss in Big East play.

“It’s very disappointing just because it’s out of my character,” Triche said. “If I was used to making turnovers and everything like that I wouldn’t think too much of it, but when it’s out of your character it hurts.”

It hurt for SU head coach Jim Boeheim, too, as he watched his senior guard and team fall apart after putting together a run that have them a chance to win the game. Despite shooting 35.7 percent from the field and getting no production from its centers, Syracuse held a one-point lead and was in control with 2:52 to play.

Then came the turnovers. And two minutes after losing control, Louisville was back in the driver’s seat.

“I don’t know what we were doing or what we were thinking,” Boeheim said. “We turned it over three times on the out of bounds and we got the one-point lead, we got the ball and Brandon dribbles into the guy.

“You just can’t make those mistakes in these kinds of games – it’s a tournament-type game.”

Syracuse and Louisville went back-and-forth for much of the second half, trading the lead 10 times until the Cardinals appeared ready to take it for good.

Hancock punctuated a six-point run for Louisville with a 3 from the left wing. The 6-foot-6 sharpshooter clapped and nodded his head repeatedly before both teams went to the bench for a Syracuse timeout.

But Syracuse had another run left. An overzealous Russ Smith fouled Michael Carter-Williams in the backcourt, sending the point guard to the line where he sank a pair of free throws. Carter-Williams sliced through the lane for a left-handed finish on the next possession, then found himself back at the line the one after, where he drilled two more free throws.

In just 64 seconds, Carter-Williams brought SU within one.

“I was just trying to bring my team up and give us a chance in the game,” Carter-Williams. “We were down seven so I was trying to be a little more aggressive.”

The game would be decided in the final 4:27. And suddenly, Louisville began to unravel. A pair of charge calls against Hancock sandwiched a C.J. Fair jumper and gave the Orange a 48-47 lead with 2:52 to play.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino was irate with the first charge, darting onto the court as the referee made the call. His jacket came off and more screaming ensued after the second one, which gave SU the ball up one with 2:24 to play.

Syracuse still clung to that lead on the Cardinals’ next trip after Peyton Siva missed a 3 off the front rim from the right wing. The long rebound fell to Triche in stride, already taking it to the SU end, but Louisville’s Smith poked the ball away as he tried to put the ball the floor.

Smith drew a foul on the resulting possession and went to the line, where he hit one free throw to tie it at 48. Syracuse’s first attempt to retake the lead, a layup from Triche, missed, but the Orange kept possession. That’s when the senior guard took the ball out and made the ill-advised pass for Carter-Williams.

“We just got to take care of the ball and make all the right plays,” Triche said. “We were doing that earlier, that’s why we were winning close games but now we’re not.”

His head coach highlighted the same mistakes as the cause for another loss. The effort was there, Boeheim said, as evidenced by the comeback. But the turnovers were too much to overcome.

“You cannot make those kinds of turnovers in end-game situations,” Boeheim said. “It’s not something we’ve really done this year, but we did it today.”

Published on March 2, 2013 at 2:23 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu