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  Article by Dan Tortora

  The Syracuse Orange and Pittsburgh Panthers met for their historic 123rd meeting on this cold night in Central New York.

  Syracuse came in leading the series with a 74-48 record.

  Pittsburgh entered having won the last meeting, 64-53.

  In this newest chapter to this on-going quarrel in the northeast, graduate guard Greg Elliott started things off with a three just 42 seconds into the contest.

  The Orange would take their first lead of the game at the 16:32 mark off of a jumper by true freshman point guard Judah Mintz that made it 6-5.

  There would be four lead changes in total in the first half, with the Panthers never trailing for the final 14:43 after a three-pointer by graduate guard Nelly Cummings clawed the Panthers ahead 12-10.

  Pittsburgh made 53.3% of their attempts in the first half, with half of those makes (eight of the 16 field goals) coming from beyond the arc, where the Panthers were 8-for-19 (42.1%).

  Syracuse, despite being down 41-33 at the half, out-scored Pittsburgh in bench points, 16 to nine, and had 14 points off of Pittsburgh's six turnovers, while Pittsburgh had nine points coming off of Syracuse's five turnovers.

  As in the first half, the Panthers were first to score in the second, this being a dunk by junior forward Blake Hinson 11 seconds in to get the Panthers back out to a double-digit advantage, 43-33.

  With a jumper by Hinson that came with 10:45 remaining in the contest, Pittsburgh had expanded their lead out to 20 points, 72-52.

  Syracuse responded with an 11-3 run to bring the score to 75-63 Pittsburgh with 6:38 remaining on the game clock.

  Panthers' center Federiko Federiko fouled out with 5:37 to play, ending the night with seven points, five rebounds, and one assist in 22 minutes.

  True freshman guard Quadir Copeland would kncok down a three plus the following free throw for a four-point play to get the Orange within seven, 79-72, with 4:59 left in the contest.

  Syracuse went on a 20-9 run after being down by the aforementioned 20 points, 72-52, bringing the score to 81-72 with under four minutes to play.

  Senior guard Joe Girard, III, would connect from long range at the 1:46 mark to bring the Orange deficit to four, 81-77.

  Copeland's offensive rebound off of fellow true freshman, forward Maliq Brown's, free throw miss shrunk the deficit to four, 83-79, with one minute remaining, giving Copeland 10 points in 11 minutes of total play.

  Girard would see his three-point attempt roll in on the very next Syracuse possession to make it 83-82 with 29 seconds to go.

  With seven seconds remaining, Mintz would turn the ball over to Hinson.

  Orange senior center Jesse Edwards would foul Hinson, who responded by going 1-for-2 at the line.

  Mintz, with six seconds to play, would try to get a foul called while shooting a jumper, but nothing would be called, and the Orange comeback would fall short, 84-82, despite ending the game on a 30-12 run.

  Both teams came in with the same record, but Pittsburgh left ahead of Syracuse with a 9-4 overall record to Syracuse's 8-5.

  Fittingly the player who scored the final point for the Panthers also led the team, and all players for that matter, with 25 points. Add in 13 rebounds to give Hinson a double-double on the night.

  Cummings followed with 22 and Elliott with 12.

  Mintz gave Syracuse 24 points in 34 minutes to end atop all Orange, followed by Girard with 16 and Copeland with 10.

  The victory keeps Pittsburgh unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), while Syracuse endures their first conference loss, now standing at 1-1.