In a span of 1:36, Syracuse saw its 11-point second-half lead shrink to four and the 32,376 fans at the Carrier Dome became queasy – again.

Then Demetris Nichols saved Syracuse – again.

‘I knew that we needed a bucket. I think the whole crowd knew that we needed a bucket,’ Nichols said. ‘I tried to make something happen. My teammates gave me the ball and I made a play.’

Nichols converted a 3-point play for the Orange’s first points in two minutes and scored on SU’s next possession to raise the lead back to nine. Syracuse used balanced scoring, with four players in double-figures, to hold on and defeat Connecticut, 73-63, at the Carrier Dome Saturday in front of the largest on-campus crowd in the NCAA this season.

It was the third-straight win for Syracuse (19-8, 8-5) and marked the first time the Orange beat Connecticut (16-10, 5-7) in the regular season since March 3, 2004. The win clinches at least a .500 record for SU in Big East play. Last season, the Orange went 7-9 in the conference.

The win wasn’t clinched until Nichols’s five-straight points with five minutes left.

‘When it got close, Demetris wanted the ball,’ Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. ‘He made two great plays. I think early in the year we weren’t sure and we made bad plays when we needed to make good plays. Today, we certainly made good plays when we had to.’

Nichols (20 points), Paul Harris (16), Eric Devendorf (15) and Andy Rautins (13) all hit double-digits in scoring for Syracuse. Harris also had 11 rebounds, finishing with his sixth double-double of the season

After Nichols’ 3-point play with 5:15 remaining, SU’s lead never shrunk below six. The Big East’s scoring leader shot just 7-for-20, but he was bailed out by his teammates for the second-consecutive game.

The unlikely three-man scoring show of Harris, Devendorf and Rautins built up SU’s second-half advantage, and with the help of Nichols’ key shots at the end and a spirited rebounding effort, Syracuse came out on top.

‘Like I’ve said time and again, this is a really interchangeable offense,’ Rautins said. ‘Anybody can score at any given time. I think that’s what’s great about this team and makes us so dangerous.’

The threesome combined for 44 points and scored 16 of 18 Syracuse points during an 18-9 run midway through the second half to increase SU’s lead to 13 points – its largest advantage of the game.

Harris’ 16 points were one short of a career high set against Charlotte in November. In two games against the Huskies this season, Harris has scored a combined 29 points and grabbed 21 rebounds.

Syracuse iced the game on 8-for-10 free-throw shooting in the game’s final four minutes. For the game, the Orange shot 83.9 percent (26-31) from the free-throw line. UConn shot a dismal 50 percent, 14-of-28.

SU led by as many as seven with 2:11 left in the first half, but went into the locker room leading by only three points. UConn’s Stanley Robinson drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing at the buzzer.

Jerome Dyson scored 18 of Connecticut’s 32 first-half points, hitting 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Dyson finished with a career-high 27 points. As a team, UConn shot more than 46 percent from beyond the arc.

Thirteen fouls were assessed to Syracuse in the game’s first 20 minutes and Harris, Watkins, Roberts and Nichols all saw bench time because of foul trouble. That didn’t stop Watkins from grabbing 11 rebounds in 16 minutes. He finished with 13 total boards.

After being out-rebounded by 17 two weeks ago in the teams’ first matchup in Storrs, Conn., Syracuse held a decisive advantage on the glass Saturday, 55-45, thanks mostly to Watkins and Harris. Boeheim has also said his guards and Nichols need to grab more loose-ball rebounds and they did. Nichols finished with nine rebounds; Devendorf and Rautins had four apiece.

Boeheim said Syracuse’s rebounding proficiency compensated for the team’s poor 3-point shooting.

‘Down at Connecticut we shoot 4-for-18 (from 3-point range) and tonight we shoot 5-for-18,’ Boeheim said. ‘I really would have thought we had to shoot better to win but the rebounding was the difference.’

Nichols says this kind of win with balanced scoring shows why SU is such a dangerous team, even when the Big East’s leading scorer is struggling from the field.

‘It’s good,’ Nichols said. ‘That shows that we’re a good team. It can be anybody’s night. That’s what’s so good about this team. I know I’m not going to have games like St. John’s every night. It’s good to know we have someone else to play well.’

Published on February 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm