Even on a day where BC made program history, it was still a disappointing ending.

The Eagles played BC's first ever triple overtime game in a wild one at the JMA Wireless Dome (pains me to type that, it's the frggin Carrier Dome). Unfortunately, even after a 7-0 run in the second OT, BC ran out of gas in the third and eventually and lost 95-86.

With the loss, BC drops to 10-13 (2-10 in the ACC) and is just about guaranteed to miss out on the ACC tournament, with the bottom three teams getting left out of the 15-team field. The win was massive for Syracuse, who is now three wins clear of BC at 5-8 in the ACC (11-13 overall). This was also the first triple OT-or-more game for the Orange since the historic Big East tournament six-OT game back in the day.

"Yeah, you know...at this point, it ain't much we can do to try and control that outcome," Earl Grant said when asked about how he'll keep guys locked in knowing the season is all but over in three weeks. "We gotta find a way to win games and continue to get better and grow and pursue the best version of ourself and then let it come down to...the final stretch, we'll see what happens there. But, it's still about pursuing the best version of ourself, trying to become the best offensive team we can be and stay connected on defense. Build our defense to where we can get the stops we need.

"So, really that will be our focus, to control what we can. Right now, that's all we can control, is showing up every day and continuing to try and get better."

In what was a back-and-forth affair all afternoon with two very even teams fighting for their postseason life, a Donald Hand Jr. layup with 3:24 left in the second overtime gave BC its biggest lead of the day at 81-76. After a turnover, a Chad Venning layup pushed it to 83-76 and made it a 7-0 run to open the second extra frame after the first one ended at 76-76.

Following a 'Cuse bucket, Fred Payne - who buried a three with one second left in regulation just to send it to the first OT at 67-67 - missed the front end of a one-and-one and then fouled. The Orange - who were a horrendous 18-32 from the line - hit both to cut it to 83-80. After a BC backcourt violation and two more free throws cut it to one, two Payne free throws made it 85-82 with 38.9 to go.

'Cuse hit a runner and then Hand Jr. (3-8 at the line) missed two free throws. Syracuse went to the line again after a Venning foul and hit one of two to knot it up at 85-85. BC turned the ball over on the final possession and dodged a halfcout buzzer beater (for the second time), sending it to the a third overtime.

The Orange proceeded to outscore BC 10-1 in the final frame and all but end any hopes of an extra week or so of basketball.

The Eagles trailed 34-27 at halftime. Hand Jr. finished with 28 points and seven rebounds in 51 minutes. Josh Beadle had 16 points and six assists, but he also had six turnovers. Payne had 10 points and five rebounds.

"Unfortunate that we didn't come up on the winning side of it," said Grant. "I thought we did a lot of things right to put ourselves in position to win it. It just came down to a couple possessions. Whether it be turning it over once or twice in crucial moments...I thought the one backcourt call we had could have gone either way, could have been a deflection. It wasn't reviewable...there was a few things that just, you know. We gotta learn how to win.

"We've got a lot of young guys in these moments for the first time. Gotta learn how to win."

The Eagles were just 9-18 from the line and shot 42% (33-77) including 11-32 (34%) from three. Syracuse wasn't much better at 47% and 37% (7-19). BC also turned it over 16 times.

Notre Dame visits Conte Forum for a 9:00 tip on Wednesday night.