Syracuse put up a valiant effort, rallying from seven points down in the final two minutes of regulation, but gave up ten straight points to #4 Louisville in overtime en route to falling at the Carrier Dome, 76-72.
Now, the trio recovered well and put in a stellar performance the rest of the way, but with Mellen unlikely to return this week, that means Desko will roll out Cunningham, Firman and Bomberry again, this time against better competition.
After three so-so years, ending the Orange’s eight-year title drought would cement his legacy as No. 22 before the tradition gets passed onto the next star.
Battle, who was just 1-6 from the field prior to that shot, will have a play go down in SU history along with Tyler Ennis’ buzzer beater against Pitt and Pearl Washington’s halfcourt heave against BC.
With the trend of talented rosters now seemingly everywhere, it’s going to continue to make it challenging for ‘Cuse lax to not only make it back to the Final Four.