Buddy Boeheim missed a jumper, Boston College men’s basketball guard DeMarr Langford Jr. brought down the rebound and his older brother, Makai Ashton-Langford, flung a pass to Jaeden Zackery.

The first-year JUCO transfer drove to the cup on the break and eyed the right wing for a pass but held steady, finishing a layup despite being fouled by Syracuse center Jesse Edwards. Zackery sunk the and-one free throw to make it a 62-55 game with 2:52 remaining.

Just when it appeared as if BC was finally going to close the gap, the Orange answered. That was the theme of the second half, during which the Eagles chased a double-digit deficit that spilled over from the opening frame.

“Any time we had any life to get it to seven or eight, those guys would make a shot,” first-year head coach Earl Grant said.

The next possession, Ashton-Langford and Zackery were inches away from steals. But like BC Tuesday night, they were out of reach when it mattered most. And Joe Girard III hit Eagles center Quinten Post with a crossover, stepback combo before launching a gut-wrenching 3-pointer over the 7-footer.

It was the Orange’s 11th triple of the night and the dagger in what was a 73-64 win, Syracuse’s fourth straight.

BC (9-13, 4-8 ACC) was forced into a shot clock violation on the game’s opening possession, a sign of things to come for the first five minutes of action. In that span, the Eagles were 0-of-7, including 0-of-3 from beyond the arc. They were getting swallowed up inside by Syracuse’s 2-3 zone, and their only point was a TJ Bickerstaff free throw.

Things weren’t much better for Syracuse (13-11, 7-6). The Orange began the game 2-of-7 from the field. Boeheim and Girard both knocked down jumpers in the early going.

The slugfest continued as the first half wore on. BC started to generate offense off offensive rebounds. In fact, the Eagles had six of them in the first eight minutes and change, which resulted in four second-chance points—all scored by Post.

Soon after, Zackery and Langford converted the first of two backdoor alley-oops. Zackery, who finished with six assists, lofted a pass to a cutting Langford, who delivered the two-handed flush. The Orange countered, though. Well, Cole Swider did, mainly. Swider, a senior transfer from Villanova, netted back-to-back 3-pointers. He stared down BC’s bench after the second, staking the Orange to a 19-9 lead.

BC cut its deficit to six after the Langford brothers chipped in a quick seven points. Because of Syracuse’s marksmanship, however, it wasn’t a two-possession game for long. Boeheim dialed up a 3-pointer in the face of Ashton-Langford, and Swider drilled another, capping a stretch of 2:35 where the Orange made as many triples (three) as they had in the first 13:43 of play.

Post, who had 10 points and six rebounds in the first half and finished with a 14-and-14 double-double, made sure that the Eagles would be down only 10 before the break, thanks to a pump fake and shot inside and, shortly thereafter, a coast-to-coast drive that ended with a Euro step.

“He really gave us a good lift,” Grant said of his junior center. “It was nice to see him rebound the ball the way he did. We got their big guy (Edwards) to foul out of the game, which was one of our goals. … Hopefully, Quinten can build on that.”

Following back-to-back 19-point performances, Edwards was held scoreless in 14 minutes. As was the case in BC’s most recent games versus North Carolina and Pitt, the Eagles were able to neutralize the opposing team’s big man. The problem for Grant’s squad was, Syracuse’s offense runs through its outside shooting.

And that’s something the Eagles couldn’t stop, especially in the second half. The Orange were 5-of-11 from deep in the final frame, led by Girard who piled up 17 points while shooting 3-of-4 from distance.

BC started the period 4-of-6 from the floor and, even with a bit of a mid-half drought, wound up scoring 40 points on 44.4% shooting in the last 20 minutes of competition. The Eagles finally settled into a groove offensively, often attacking Syracuse’s fabled zone through the high post and moving the ball better to set up five 3-pointers.

BC had 10 assists in the second half alone. To put that into perspective, the Eagles had seven or fewer assists in three of their previous four games.

Grant’s team went toe-to-toe offensively with Jim Boeheim’s squad in the back half of play. But BC needed to do more than that.

At one point, Syracuse almost pulled away. A Swider 3-pointer—his fourth of five triples amid a 21-point outing—stretched the Orange lead to 15, and Conte Forum, which was filled with Syracuse fans, played home to a chorus of “Let’s go Orange!” chants.

A 6-2 spurt later in the half helped BC bring it back within 10 points, though. That surge was fueled by a 3-pointer from Zackery—who had 16 points and zero turnovers in the second period—and an old-fashioned 3-point play from Langford.

Except, Zackery’s push was too little, too late.

“We just needed to be better in the first half,” Grant said.

“We let the game get away from us. Ten points. Probably was a little bit too steep of a hole for us, being down 10 in the first half with a team that potent on offense.”